


This Is Me

by HappyJuicyfruit



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Stiles, Childhood Trauma, Deputy Derek Hale, Deputy Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Fae & Fairies, Insecure Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Derek Hale, Past Child Abuse, Warning: Kate Argent, Werewolf Discrimination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 13:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19746640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyJuicyfruit/pseuds/HappyJuicyfruit
Summary: Stiles gripped to Derek’s shirt, attempting to stay on his feet as he was manhandled.  He whipped his head around, trying to spot whatever had Derek on the defense. He froze when his eyes landed on two tall, greenish, figures standing right in front of them.“No need to growl, dog. We are not here to harm you.” One of them said. Her… his...? Their voice sounded like music, echoing in the trees. They were both dressed in long silky robes, and they had the posture of royalty.“What do you want?” Derek growled.  The two Fae glanced at him, then turned their eyes on Stiles. Stiles felt his own eyes widen in surprise. “Answer me, nymphs! What do you want?”Stiles snapped out of his surprise to smack Derek on the arm. “They’re Fae, Derek, not ‘nymphs.’”





	This Is Me

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my fanfic friends! This is a fic that I had posted here a while ago, but always felt something was off with it. I've edited it a lot now and I'm reposting it with a different name. So if this looks familiar, that is why, but the relationship between Derek and Stiles is very different now. I'm finally happy with it :) 
> 
> Warnings: in the first section, Stiles mother is sick and thinks Stiles is trying to kill her. She attacks him, but Derek saves Stiles.  
> Derek talks about some of the trauma he goes through with Kate.  
> They talk about childhood trauma/how that has effected their relationship.

_ April, 2005.  _

He should have taken the Camaro. 

The Camaro was sleek. Well engined. A fucking high speed sports car. He could be zooming past the Grand Canyon by now if he had taken the Camaro. 

But no, Derek hadn’t wanted to draw attention to himself. He had tried to be sensible, and look what it did for him. His Dad’s lame ass Toyota Pickup was breaking down not five miles out of Beacon Hills. 

This was just not his day. 

Derek grumbled to himself as the Toyota’s hood started to blow smoke into the windshield. He needed to pull over - soon. 

He spotted a flashing neon motel sign up ahead and sighed in relief. He had a bit of cash on him. Hopefully it covered whatever repairs the dumb truck needed. He would park at the motel, use their phone, get the truck fixed up in no time. 

And then he could leave Beacon Hills behind him forever. 

\-- 

The garage did was not open on Sundays, and would not be open until Tuesday afternoon. There was no other place in this God forsaken tiny town that fixed cars. He couldn’t even get a tow truck. 

Derek slammed the phone down, glaring at it for good measure. This was  _ not _ his day. 

“Uh, did you want to make another call, sir?” The lady behind the front desk asked. She looked too young to be working here, but Derek was probably too young to be standing here, so who was he to judge. 

He looked at the phone again, contemplating calling Laura.. Or his Mom.. he shook his head though. After what he had done.. What he had almost allowed to happen...

He didn’t deserve Laura or his Mom. 

“Alright, did you want a room? It’s $57 a night. $65 if you want the deluxe treatment.” 

Derek lifted a brow, “what’s the deluxe treatment?”

“Oh!” She looked surprised he had even asked. Derek wondered how many customers they even got at this tiny motel in the middle of nowhere. “We bring you ice. You get to choose one of our DVD’s to watch. And! In the morning, you come back in here and we give you donuts.” 

Derek glanced over at the small pile of DVD’s. Half of them were Die Hard. 

“Thanks. I’ll just take a room for the night.” 

She looked put out, but she took his money. In exchange he got a tiny room key with a bright orange 3 tied to it. Derek watched her grab the key off the pegs on the far wall. There were only 8 rooms in total, and Derek was only the second guest. 

No wonder the poor girl was excited about ice and donuts. 

Derek thanked her and left. Grabbing his duffel on the way to the room, Derek wondered what the hell he was going to do for the next few days. He considered leaving the truck and heading out by foot, but it would take forever to get anywhere that way. He wished he could be like his Mom - full shift into a wolf and take off into the trees. Leave the depressing human world behind him. 

He only had his beta shift though. He couldn’t live out in the woods as a beta werewolf… someone would eventually notice, and his parents would find him sooner rather than later. 

He made his way up the little row of rooms, each with their own brightly coloured door number. He stopped in front of his matching vibrant 3. 

Inside, the room wasn’t half bad. There was a queen sized bed, something he had never slept in on his own before. A TV. Further inspection showed a clean shower and sink. The mattress, when he bounced down on it, was a bit hard. The walls smelled vaguely mouldy. 

It would do. For now. 

Derek fell backwards on the bed, sprawling on his back with a sigh. It had been a long, awful, day, and now he just wanted to sleep. His eyes slid shut on their own accord - he drifted to the sounds and smells of a new place. 

Unwanted images appeared before his eyes. The last time he had been in a motel was with Kate. That time she had paid, they had gotten a queen sized bed and shared a bottle of red wine. The wine didn’t affect him much, but it still made him uneasy when she poured the liquid directly down his throat. It was like she wanted him loose and easy. Pliant under her hands. 

Derek had already been all of that, so he really did not know what more she had wanted. 

That same night she had tied his hands to the bed frames and then sat on his face. She said it would be hot, but he had felt trapped. Suffocated. He should have trusted those instincts. But like a complete moron, he had forgotten all about it the moment she had put her own mouth to use on his body. 

Fuck, he was such an idiot. 

It was the morning after that little session that Kate had asked him all about the old Hale house architecture. She said she was fascinated by old buildings, by how they were designed. Derek had practically drawn her a fucking blueprint. 

A blueprint she had used to trap his entire family in their house last night. That she then set on fire. 

It was only due to his father’s unexpected run into town that anyone survived. His Dad, the sweetest freakin man in the world, had gone with his youngest sister, Derek’s Aunt Mary, to get a pregnancy test. No one had known they had even left. The house was silent as the entire pack slept… no one noticed as the hunters circled the house with mountain ash. No one expected hunters to creep into the forest, pull back their hidden trap door, and lay mountain ash barriers across those exits as well. 

The Hale’s had back up plans for their back up plans, and the hunters had gotten them all. 

By the time the first person woke up, they were already doomed. Kate had thrown gasoline across the porch, lighting it aflame only when the gas had leaked under the front door and through the side windows. The whole front of the house had gone up in flames in less than a minute. 

Derek’s family had all woken each other up then. They all huddled together and made their way to the back door - which was, of course, blocked by mountain ash. Not that they had even made it that far. The doors themselves had been jammed shut. Wolfsbane had been thrown in to weaken the wolves, and the doors were to strong for humans to push past. Not when there was 50 feet of flames burning at their backs. 

So down to the cellars they had gone - only to find those exits blocked too. The children began to cry. The parents began to panic. 

Derek remembered clutching his cousins little body under him, trying to block her from the heat. They had all known there was nothing they could do though. The fire was too big already. All their escape routes were gone. There was nothing. 

Derek had the terrifying realization that he was going to die at the age of 16. 

The first blast of water had surprised them all. The adults had been doubtful at first, but the kids had started to laugh when droplets had fallen down through the floorboards to land on their heads. Heavy footsteps had pounded through their home, finally making their way down to the basement. The sight of the firefighter, dressed up in full gear and waving them all to the exit, was still the best thing Derek had ever seen in his entire life. 

It was quickly followed by the worst. 

When Derek had walked out of their burnt shell of a house with the rest of his family, he saw his Dad, his face red and furious, holding onto Kate. And Kate had been shrieking. Yelling that her plan to kill them all would have worked if Derek had known his family well enough to know when they were all inside. 

All the pieces had clicked together then. Kate had used him. Kate had tried to kill his family… 

Derek had helped. Derek had leaned over and vomited on the spot. 

That had been last night. 

This morning, Derek had looked around at his family’s sad faces. He had watched as the firefighters proclaimed their family home uninhabitable. He had seen his parents stoic faces as he explained his part in the whole tragedy. 

He had decided to leave when no one said it was his fault. It had been. Obviously. And he wasn’t going to do it again. 

He would never put his family in danger like that again. 

\-- 

Derek woke to the sound of crying. 

It took him a minute to remember where he was. By the time he realized this wasn’t his house, those weren’t his younger siblings or cousins cries that woke him, he was already halfway off the bed. 

He flopped back down with a sigh, listening to the other guests of the motel. The people must only be two doors down or something, because Derek could hear them pretty clearly through these thin walls. 

The crying had died down to sniffles, so Derek chalked it up to a nightmare, or tantrum, or whatever normal human kids cry about in the middle of the night. He was digging through his duffel bag when he heard something that made him reconsider how normal this crying was…

“But mommy, I don’t  _ want _ to sleep in the closet.” 

The voice sounded young, like his little brother who was only 7. Derek wondered why the hell the kid had to sleep in the closet.

“You want mommy to be safe, don’t you? You have to sleep in the closet to keep me safe. Otherwise the darkness inside of you might come out and attack me while we’re asleep.” 

What the-? Derek frowned, looking towards the wall in confusion. This woman must be on something. 

“But Mommy-“ 

“Don’t be selfish, Mischief.” The woman said, voice going firm. “You know we don’t like it when you’re selfish.” 

More sniffling from the kid. Derek debated whether he should go check on them or not… maybe this was a normal human thing? How would he know? 

The woman sighed dramatically, “Look Mischief, I’ve even put pillows and blankets in here. I’ll lock you in but it will be real snug. And in the morning your Dad and I will be here to take you outside.” 

“Daddy will be here in the morning?” The boy, Mischief (weird name), asked. 

“Yes, Daddy will be here. Now get in the closet.” 

Silence. More sniffling. 

“Get in the closet!” The woman hissed. There was the sound of little footsteps, and then a bang. Derek could hear the poor kids little heart beat going a mile a minute. “Daddy will be here in the morning, sweetheart. I love you. Have a good sleep.” 

Then Derek heard the woman walk away, leaving her son locked in the closet for the night. 

This was weird and Derek did not know what to do about it. Should he call someone? Go talk to her on his own? 

How many times had this happened? It sounded like the first time, if the kid was arguing against it… and maybe there was something dark in the kid. Derek was a werewolf after all, it’s not like he didn’t know there were other creatures out there. Derek himself has been chained down in the basement once or twice… 

The basement that had fluffy floors and nice chew toys, and where he was never left truly alone, but still.

And the father was coming in the morning. The kid was probably fine. 

Derek shrugged it off entirely when the kids heart beat dropped down to that of one soundly asleep. If the kid fell asleep that fast, it was probably a comfortable space. 

Besides, Derek had his own problems right now. 

—

Derek gave one last pull and a large chunk of metal came flying out of the engine. That.. was probably not supposed to happen. 

Derek growled under his breath, trying to shove the metal back into place. It won’t fit now though, because now it’s all bent out of shape. He doesn’t even know what this metal thing does. He tossed it aside after another minute of shoving, hopefully it was not important. 

“You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?” 

Derek whirled around, claws popping out as he crouched beside the hood of the truck. 

There was a kid standing there, looking small and pale against the dark asphalt of the parking lot. Thankfully the kid was looking at all the parts Derek had torn out of the car, and not at the claws Derek’s fingers were currently sprouting. He took a breath and pulled the wolf back in, opening his eyes to find the kid now staring at him strangely. 

“Well?” 

Uhhh..Derek frowned, looking around for the kids parents, “what?” 

“Do you know anything about cars?” The kid flailed his arm towards Derek’s truck. 

Derek glanced around once more but no, no adult in sight. “No, not really. Where’re your parents, kid?” 

The kid ignored him, “you shouldn’t drive this car now, not after what you just did to it.” 

Derek glared at the little brat, “what do you know about cars? You’re like 7. And the car wasn’t working before I started doing this.” 

The kid looked at him, then looked back at all the parts on the ground, “what was it doing?” 

“It was smoking, and making a weird ticking noise,” Derek said, then shut his mouth quickly because there was no way he was going to talk about this with a  _ child _ . 

“It was probably overheated, cause your carburetor is old.” He pointed inside the car, at the circle looking thing that looked a bit rusty. “You would have been able to drive it again in an hour if you had just waited.” He looked at Derek pointedly then, like Derek was an idiot. 

Derek chose to ignore the look, “so I can drive it? It’s fine?” 

“No, you just tore out part of the brakes. And some other valuable parts. You can’t drive this thing until a mechanic fixes it now.” 

What. Derek looked down at all the metal scattered around the car. 

Fuck. 

“I might have been able to help you put these back if you had, you know, used tools. But you, like, ripped these right out. I don’t know how to put them back now.” 

Derek frowned at the parts, and then glared at the kid. The kid looked back at him innocently - until his stomach let out an extremely loud growl. 

Derek looked away, glancing around yet again for a supervising adult. When he looked back at the kid, he had his hands over his stomach and was blushing red in embarrassment. Derek looked away again to give him some privacy. 

“Where are your parents?” He asked again, stepping forward to close the hood. Apparently it was useless to even try to fix it on his own. He shoved the pieces of metal under the car, hoping the motel manager didn’t get mad about having a broken down truck in their parking lot. 

“My mom’s sleeping,” the boy said, motioning behind him at the line of motel rooms. 

Oh. This must be the kid who slept in the closet last night, Mischief. Derek mentally kicked himself for forgetting about that, of course this was the kid. What over child would be wandering around the middle of nowhere motel on a Monday afternoon. Wait..

“It’s 1 in the afternoon.” He said, turning back to the kid. 

The boy shrugged, “my mom’s sick. She sleeps a lot.” 

Right. She sleeps, and the poor kid gets shoved in the closet. Derek doesn’t say that, obviously, but he’s starting to feel bad about this entire strange situation… Mischief doesn’t even know Derek’s name. 

“What’s your name?” He asked, before he accidentally said it himself and got the ‘you’re creepy’ stare… that happened once in 5th grade, you don’t come back from that in 5th grade. 

“Stiles.” Well, that was unexpected. He must have looked confused, because Stiles continued, “my real name is horribly Polish. Not even my parents call me that, they usually call me Mischief, cause that’s the only way I’ve been able to pronounce my own name. But then school started, and Stiles is easier.” 

Stiles. Mischief. Derek couldn’t decide which was weirder. Stiles’ stomach let out another loud growl. 

Derek sighed, “have you had anything to eat today?” 

Stiles shook his head. He shoved his little hands into his hoodie pockets and scuffed the asphalt with his velcro running shoes. Derek took pity on him and motioned towards the motel lobby. 

“These guys have some donuts. I can buy us a few, if you want?” 

Stiles looked hesitant, but then his stomach made itself known once more and Derek raised an eyebrow at him. Stiles nodded once before Derek turned and started to make his way to the building. He heard Stiles sneakers squeaking against the pavement as he followed behind him. 

Inside there was an older woman behind the desk this time. She didn’t have the same gleam in her eye as Derek suspected the younger woman would have had when Derek asked if they had any donuts. Instead she made her way to the back room, and then dropped the box on the front desk when she came back. Derek hesitantly picked the box up, bringing it down so he and Stiles could both look inside and pick a few donuts each. 

“They’re $1 each.” The woman said in a clipped tone. “Check out is at 3 pm. If you are staying another night, room 3, you need to pay now.” 

Derek scowled at the woman, handing the box over to Stiles so he could take out his wallet. “Here’s for another night, and here’s $6. We’re taking 3 each.” 

The woman didn’t comment as she took his money. She again said nothing as she grabbed the box back and moved to the back room again. This time, she didn’t come back out. 

“Don’t take it personally, she hates me cause I asked to use her phone two nights ago and wasn’t taking no for an answer.” Stiles said, speaking through a mouth full of jelly. 

Derek raised his eyebrows. Stiles laughed. 

“I was trying to call my dad, but apparently I need ‘adult supervision’ to call my adult supervisor. My mom came in before things got really heated though, so don’t worry about it.” 

Stiles started shoving his last donut in his mouth, and Derek was really starting to get concerned. He had thought Stiles had a strange mother and just hadn’t had any breakfast, but now Stiles was scarfing down donuts like he hadn’t had any food in days. 

“Is everything... Okay? With you and your mom?” Derek asked. He grew even more concerned when Stiles heart started pounding at the question. 

“Everything's fine.” Lie. “She’s just sick.” Truth. “My dad will be here tonight, and he’s a cop so he’ll know exactly what to do.” Stiles said, sounding so sure that his dad would sweep in and save everyone. 

Derek felt a pang at that... He hadn’t trusted his own father with that much blind loyalty in a long time. Not even when he had swooped in and saved everyone. 

“Why don’t you call your dad with the phone in your room?” 

“Oh, my mom- I mean, it’s uh. Broken.” Stiles said, shoving the last piece of donut in his mouth before wiping his hands on his jeans. 

Translation: his mother had broken the phone. Jesus Christ, Derek was in over his head. 

“You could use the phone in my room, if you want.” Derek offered. If Stiles dad really was on his way, maybe a phone call would get him here faster. Derek didn’t want to be worried about this kid when he left in the tow truck tomorrow. 

“Really?” Stiles looked so hopeful. Derek nodded. “Sweet! Maybe my dad can get here before dinner.” 

Stiles practically ran to Derek’s door, and Derek almost smiled at the childish excitement. Stiles didn’t really act like a kid, now that Derek thought about it. It was nice to see. 

Derek pulled out his key, gently pushing Stiles out of the way to unlock the door- 

“Mischief!” A cry came from two doors down. Stiles visibly paled beside him. “Mischief, where are you?!” 

Stiles started to walk towards his room, but stopped when a woman walked through the door. She looked… deranged. Her hair was a mess, greasy and tangled. Her clothes looked old and were covered in stains. Her face was pale, and her eyes… her eyes locked onto Stiles like a wolf’s eyes locked onto prey. 

Derek was stepping forward before he could think about it. 

“Excuse me-” Derek started, but was immediately ignored… not even ignored, entirely unnoticed. 

“Mischief, I told you not to leave the room. Why did you leave the room? You could hurt someone. You could  _ kill _ someone. Is that what you want?  _ Blood _ on your hands?” 

Derek frowned, Stiles mother wasn’t making any sense. Derek also knew, now, that Stiles was nothing but a human boy. There was nothing inside of him that could hurt anyone. 

Weren’t parents supposed to be concerned about their child getting hurt? Not the other way around? 

“Excuse me, ma’am, Stiles-” 

The woman whirled on him, “who are you? Leave us alone! Leave! Who are you? A spy?” She clutched onto Stiles arm with a bruising force, causing Stiles to grimace beside her. Derek backed off, only to save Stiles from more pain. 

“I’m no one, okay? Sorry. I was only worried about Stiles.” 

“Yes, yes,” the woman nodded quickly. She looked insane, “you’re all worried about  _ Stiles _ . Stiles needs to be protected. Well I am protecting him. I am saving his  _ soul _ !” 

She gripped onto Stiles even harder, dragging him into their motel room and slamming their door behind her. Derek stood there, hands still raised in a placating gesture. He did not know what to do. 

The woman started screaming again. Nonsense things, about the devil and souls and the darkness inside of Stiles. Derek’s heart ached, but he had no idea what to do about all this. If he called the police, they would come here. If they came here they would realize Derek was not over 18, and then he would be shipped home. 

He couldn’t go home.. Not after what he did. He couldn’t face his own parents pity and buried hatred. 

Tomorrow, he decided. If Stiles’ father had still not come to get him by tomorrow, he would call the cops from the mechanics shop. 

Stiles had lasted this long, he could last one more night. 

\-- 

Stiles mother left their room an hour later. Derek sat and waited for a good 10 minutes, then slipped out when she didn’t return. He stood in front of Stiles door for a minute, listening to the poor boys rapid beating heart. 

He knocked gently, “Stiles? You okay in there?” 

Impossibly, Stiles heartbeat seemed to jack up even faster. 

“I- I wanted to see if you were okay.” Derek said lamely. Stiles heart rate didn’t come down, and Derek couldn’t hear him moving around at all. 

Cursing, Derek went back to his room. 

Tomorrow. He was making the call tomorrow. 

\-- 

Derek woke up to the sound of crying. Again. 

He sat up gingerly, glancing at the clock to see that it was about 3 am. He rubbed a hand over his face with a groan, he hadn’t meant to fall asleep. He had laid down listening to Stiles erratic heart beat.. He must have fallen asleep some point when he was at its slowest. 

Focusing his ears on the room two doors down, Derek grimaced at what he heard. Stiles mother was screaming again, and this time Stiles wasn’t just taking it. He was crying and begging and- 

Wait, begging? 

“Please, Mommy, I don’t want to die!” 

Derek was up in a flash, running for his door. 

“You need to, Mischief! You’ll kill everyone if I don’t stop you!” 

Fuck, fuck, fuck - Derek practically ripped the door off its hinges trying to get out. He froze on the walkway when Stiles’ next words weren’t words at all, but gurgling and splashing. 

Holy fuck, was she trying to drown him?! 

Derek ran. He bashed down the door to room 5, scanning the tiny room when he entered. No Stiles. 

More splashing came through the door on the other side. The bathroom. 

He was there in an instant. This time, he actually did rip the door off its hinges. 

The woman was crouched beside the tub, holding down Stiles squirming form with a manic smile on her face. The splashing and flailing did nothing to stop her. 

Derek ran forward and threw her aside, not caring when a loud crack came from where she landed. Stiles sat up was a gasp, grasping his throat with one hand, his other arm flailing. Derek spent one second making sure he could breathe properly before he was scooping the kid up into his arms, and racing back out of the motel room. 

Stiles was crying hysterically. Derek ran his hand over his head in an attempt to soothe him. 

They made it back to Derek’s room, he slammed the door behind them and locked it, before sliding down and clutching Stiles to his chest. 

The poor kid was still crying hysterically. 

“Stiles, Stiles it’s okay, you’re safe,” Derek whispered, petting the kids back. Stiles was sobbing, wet, and shaking. Derek hoped that was all that was wrong with him. 

Derek jumped when someone started pounding on the door behind him. 

“Give him back! I need to stop him, give him back!” The crazy woman screamed. 

Derek didn’t reply. He picked Stiles up once more to make his way to the bed. Once he had Stiles rolled up in the duvet, Derek dragged him back into his lap and picked up the phone. 

It was time to bring adults into the situation. 

\-- 

Turns out, Stiles had told Derek the truth. His father was a badass deputy who came in and saved the day. 

The man was there in record time. He had the woman (his own wife) in the back of the police car in minutes, and he had a shaking Stiles in his arms not long after that. 

He looked like a man who hadn’t slept in three days… 

Considering he was a man whose insane wife had kidnapped his child, that’s probably what he was. 

Stiles clung to his father, still crying uncontrollably. One of his little fists still hung onto Derek as well, but Derek didn’t have the heart to pry him off. He was just happy Stiles was going to be okay. 

\-- 

It was awkward, having to get into an ambulance because some kid you had just met the day before refused to let go of you. Derek went willingly, and Stiles’ father looked like he appreciated it. 

He found out a lot of things on that ambulance ride. 

Stiles mother, Claudia, was sick. Really sick. Frontosomething dementia sick. Her brain was rotting, and in her delusional state she had blamed it all on Stiles. John, the kids poor father, had figured that out a little too late. 

Stiles was not 7, but a small 11 year old… that was still a kid to Derek, though, so he didn’t know why Stiles felt the need to correct him when Derek called him a brave 7 year old kid. 

And last but not least - apparently Derek had been reported missing this morning. His parents had assumed he had gone out to blow off some steam, but panicked when he never came home. Derek winced when the Deputy told him they would need to call his parents as soon as possible. 

Stiles squeezed his hand and told him it would be okay… so, yeah, maybe it would be okay. 

Maybe with Stiles, everything would be okay. 

\-- 

**10 Years Later**

_ August, 2015  _

“To Stiles, my spastic brother who somehow managed to become a cop,” Scott said with a smile. The whole room laughed. Stiles pretended to be offended. “Seriously though, congrats bro.” Scott raised his glass, and everyone else followed with a cheer. 

They were all gathered at the Hale house, the usual place for a pack celebration. Because that was what his life was like, every big moment was celebrated with the pack. The werewolf pack. That he, Stiles, was a part of. 

Even 10 years later, it still somehow managed to surprise him. 

After the big cheer, the party started to spread out. The food was buffet style, so no one was really sitting in one place. It was nice. This meant Stiles got to talk to whoever he wanted. 

He moved away from his little group, smiling at Jackson, Allison and Lydia, and clapping on Scott’s shoulder as he passed. 

He stopped by Talia and Laura for a few minutes, paying respects to his Alpha. Talia ran a hand over the back of Stiles’ neck, making Stiles feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He cooed over Laura’s new baby boy, who then jammed Stiles finger into his mouth, so that was nice. 

Next he swung by Liam and his little trio of pals. Liam was the youngest of the Hale kids, and Stiles enjoyed teasing him about it. Liam would act all hot and bothered by it, but Stiles knew he enjoyed the attention. Youngest kids always enjoyed the attention. He was starting senior year of high school next week, and Stiles made a few jokes about babies growing up too fast. 

“You’re only 4 years older than us, Stiles!” Liam whined as he rolled his eyes. 

Stiles left still snickering. 

He grabbed a plate of sausage rolls before moving on to Cora and her friends. They had been a year above Stiles in school, but they had all ended up hanging out most of the time anyway. Actually.. most of Derek’s friends and family had become Stiles friends and family, and vise versa. 

Cora was cool, like a small, female, Derek. Her, Isaac and Kira had been best friends since birth. They were all adorable. 

“You going to be okay working with Derek, Stiles?” Isaac asked. 

Stiles narrowed his eyes at the guy. Derek had been working at the Sheriff’s department for 6 years now, and Stiles had gone to visit him there almost as much as he had gone to visit his own father... So... “why wouldn’t I be okay working with him?” 

“Because of that massive crush you’ve got on him?” Isaac said, before throwing a meatball in his mouth all casually cool. Stupid Isaac and his stupid cool face. Stiles took it all back, Isaac was not adorable. Only Kira and Cora were adorable. 

“Shut up.” 

“Don’t be like that, Stiles,” Kira said, “everyone but Derek knows you’ve had feelings for him for a long time. You should open yourself up to him! Accept love in return.” 

She said this all with a happy smile on her face. Stiles took her adorableness back too, Cora was the only good one here. 

“I’m surprised Derek still hasn’t clued on to you yet, you smell like a giant boner every time he’s around.” Cora said. 

Alright, he hated them all. 

“I can control myself fine, not that I know of what crush you’re all talking about,” all three of them rolled their eyes. Stiles ignored them. “Derek and I have been best friends for years. I’m pretty sure working with him isn’t going to change anything.” 

“Seeing him everyday and not being able to do anything isn’t going to... Hurt?” Isaac asked. 

Stiles sighed. Yes. Of course it was going to hurt. It had been hurting ever since Stiles had turned 14 and he discovered what exactly having a crush meant. But Derek didn’t see him that way and Stiles... Stiles was happy with what he could get. 

“I’ll be fine.” He said. 

“Are you sure? Maybe if you talked to Derek, you would see that-” Kira said

“Yeah, I’m going to go… bug Peter,” Stiles cut her off, backing away from this conversation. Scott and Lydia had both been pushing him to talk to Derek since he had turned 18 and it was suddenly legal for him and Derek to even think about dating each other… not that Derek ever thought about dating Stiles. He had been 22 when Stiles was 18, and still away at college. No way at all had Stiles newfound legalness crossed Derek’s mind that year. Nope. That was just Stiles thoughts. Stiles many, many thoughts. About Derek. And Dating. Mating. Sexy times- 

“Ah Stiles, the man of the hour,” Peter said, patting Stiles on the back. “We’re all very proud of you, you know. Bravely joining the force like your father and our Derek. Your mother would have been proud too.” 

Stiles looked away awkwardly. It was bad enough finding out Peter had known his mother, he was also always the one who tried to talk to him about her.

“Thanks.” 

Peter took the hint and moved on, gesturing to the man standing beside them, “Deaton here was just telling me you're not training with him anymore. That’s impressive.” 

Stiles smiled, “full fledged mage right here. Not a spark anymore.” 

Deaton nodded, “Stiles finished his training a few months ago, actually, we’ve merely been working on some projects together before he started his job at the station. I hope we’ll still be able to work together in the future though.” 

“Of course, D. You’re my magic go to forever.” 

Deaton’s smile was small, but his eyes were fond. Stiles had been working with Deaton ever since he was 11 years old and the Hale pack had sent him off to work on his spark. They had become close, and with Scott working with Deaton on the vet side of things, the place had become like a… fourth home? Wow okay, between the Stilinski house, Hale house, McCall house, and Deaton’s clinic.. Stiles really got around. Also the Sheriff’s Station, where he spent a lot of his time too. 

It was a wonder he had done so well in school. 

“Well, congrats. Anyway Stiles, you must be looking forward to seeing Derek everyday.” Peter said, ruining the happy moment Stiles and Deaton had been sharing. 

Jeez, did everyone always have to bring up his crush on Derek? 

“Yeah. It’ll be great to work with everyone on the team,” Stiles said. 

Peter snorted, “I’m sure.” 

They bickered back and forth for a few more minutes, before Stiles caught sight of Erica and Boyd and decided to go say hi to them. 

Erica gave him a giant hug, and Boyd, in a rare show of affection, squeezed his shoulder. Stiles was smiling happily at the two of them until Erica opened her mouth. 

“So? Excited to finally be working with Derek every day?” 

God, this was going to be a long night. 

\-- 

Derek rushed up the steps to his family’s home, cursing when he walked inside to find the party in full swing. 

He was late. Stiles was going to be pissed. 

Glancing around he didn’t see the boy, but he did see Erica and Boyd. He made his way over to them. 

“Hey lover boy, looking for your little pumpkin?” Erica asked. Derek rolled his eyes. 

Erica and Boyd had been around when Derek had started hanging out with Stiles. They hadn’t understood his connection to the kid then, and they still didn’t now. They figured it was a trauma thing at first, both of them having near death experiences around the same time… Which it had been, in a way. You didn’t hold the hand of an 11 year old boy during his mother’s funeral and not get attached to him. 

Then as they got older, and Stiles stuck around, they assumed it was some sort of weird werewolf thing. Like the only reason Derek would still spend time with the boy was because he would eventually become Derek’s mate… or something ridiculous like that. Derek refused to talk to them about it because frankly, it was offensive. Even after the two had been bitten, they didn’t have any understanding of werewolf etiquette. 

And if in recent years Derek had caught himself eyeing Stiles in a... slightly different way than he had before, well, he wasn’t going to tell anyone about it. He was going to keep that one secret with him to the grave. Because for one thing, he didn’t want to make Stiles feel uncomfortable, or worse. 

Their friendship meant more to him than some idiotic half-formed feelings Derek was having anyway. 

“I’m looking for  _ Stiles _ ,” he said pointedly with a glare, “have you seen him?” 

“Weren’t you supposed to be here an hour ago?” Boyd asked. Derek grimaced. 

“I got held up… I’m hoping he won’t notice.” 

Erica laughed, “he’s out in the back with the rest of the 2.0’s. We’re just in here getting more snacks.” 

Derek nodded his thanks before making his way to the backyard. Walking through the room, he did notice that it was mostly full of his aunts and uncles. The Sheriff was here, of course, at this point he was pack too. Scott’s mother was here as well, as was Lydia’s mother, and Chris Argent. Their kids might be pack, but they were more like pack acquaintances. 

Finally making his way to the back door, Derek stepped outside with a smile. Here were the packmates he spent the most time with, or as Erica lovingly called them, Halepack 2.0. A mix match of Liam’s friends all the way up to Laura’s friends. The younger half of the Hale pack, ranging from 17 - 35. 

He spotted Stiles somewhere in the middle, lounging on a deck chair with a bottle in his hand. He smirked as he krept towards the kid, leaning forward to talk in his ear, “is our newly hired officer getting caught underage drinking?” 

Stiles jumped and flailed, causing the group around him to laugh. He turned and smacked Derek. “I’m 21, you dick, you know my birthday was in April. And I swear I will put a bell on you one of these days, Sourwolf. Just watch me.” 

“Yeah, right,” Derek said, reaching forward to squeeze the back of Stiles neck. He smirked when Stiles leaned into the touch. They never could stay mad at each other. “How’s the party?” He asked, grabbing the beer from Stiles’ hand and taking a swig. 

“Great! Everyone’s here. Some  _ nicer _ people arrived on time, and even got me presents,” Stiles shot Derek a look. Derek lifted a brow in return, like Stiles needed any more presents. 

Stiles pouted at him. Derek relented, like he always did. “I’ll buy you dinner after you’re first shift tomorrow.” 

Stiles beamed at his words, and Derek sent him a soft smile back. There was a reason he always gave Stiles what he asked for. 

Jackson snorted, “God, Stilinski, you’re so pathetic. Always following after Derek like a duckling.” 

Stiles and Derek both turned on him. “I don’t follow him around.” Stiles said with a glare. 

“Right. Your bright idea to join law enforcement is all due to your stealth and great fighting abilities.” 

Stiles shook his head, “there’s more to being a deputy than punching people, dickhead, and I have my own reasons for joining law enforcement.” Stiles turned away, clearly finished with the topic. 

Jackson, however, wasn’t finished.

“Say whatever you want, Stilinski, everyone knows you’re Derek’s little...” Jackson trailed off when Derek glared at him over Stiles head, his eyes flashing blue. Jackson audibly gulped when Derek bared his fangs. 

“Jackson, don’t you have an early morning tomorrow? Maybe you should leave,” Lydia said, patting her boyfriend's shoulder. Lydia may have horrible taste in men, but she was far from stupid. 

“I think that would be for the best.” Derek agreed. 

Jackson nodded, already halfway out of his chair. He left soon after, scowl firmly set on his face. 

Derek glanced back at Stiles, but his boy missed the exchanged, too enraptured in whatever he and Cora were talking about. Derek smiled in relief, sitting down on the grass by Stiles’ feet. 

Derek knew Jackson and Stiles had always had a rocky ‘frenemy’ relationship. Hell, Derek had been the one to teach Stiles how to throw a punch when Jackson had gone from teasing Stiles to full on bullying him back when the two were in 8th grade. While the physical aspect had not lasted long, they’re relationship had only gotten worse when Jackson had found out about the pack through Lydia. Jackson had tried to force his way in, but was thus far still only considered an acquaintance. It infuriated him that Stiles was a beloved member of the Hale wolfpack; whereas Jackson had been denied his request for the bite. Twice. 

Derek hated the guy… But at the moment, he mostly hated that he might have a point. 

Derek  _ was _ worried that Stiles had only joined the Sheriff’s department because Derek worked there. 

Sure, Stiles had a few good points. His father was the sheriff, and ever since he was a kid Stiles had wanted to work with him. He wanted to save people, help people… but, Derek couldn’t help but think that Stiles could probably do that in a different way. With his mind? Stiles could have easily been a lawyer. A doctor. A scientist, curing disease. Finding the solution to global warming. Something important!

Instead he wanted to be a deputy. Like Derek. 

Derek worried about him. 

Even though Derek had been the one to show Stiles how to throw a punch Stiles wasn’t all that great at it. Yes, he passed basic training. And yes, he was able to take down the average Joe. But Derek had years of experience as a Beacon Hills deputy, and sometimes there was more than the average Joe walking around causing trouble. 

He wanted Stiles somewhere safe. 

Derek sighed, glancing up at Stiles and watching him laugh at whatever Cora and Scott were saying. He shook away his fears, and took another drink from Stiles’ beer. 

Tomorrow was just Stiles first day. Derek wasn’t allowed to take on a case for the first year he worked at the department…. Stiles was only going to be giving out parking tickets and strolling around the high school at night patrolling for graffiti. 

Everything would be fine. 

\-- 

Stiles walked into the bullpen and took in a big breath. Ah, the smell of law enforcement in the morning. It was his third day here, and it still brought a thrill through him.

Couldn’t get any better than this. 

“You look way too chipper for 5:30 in the morning,” one of the older officers complained. Stiles beamed at the man, who glared back at him from where he was slumped in his chair and frowning. 

“What can I say? It’s still my first week. I’m just excited to be here.” 

“Right. We’re out of coffee, rookie, go make a new batch.” Deputy Stevenson said, rubbing his forehead and staring blankly at the report in front of him. 

“Sure thing, Stevie.” 

Stevie glanced up to glare again, “that’s Deputy Stevenson to you, Stiles.” 

“Sure thing, Deputy Stevie,” Stiles said with a grin, hurrying to the back before Stevie could retaliate. 

Life at the Sheriff’s department was going exactly how Stiles had predicted it to go. He had gotten the desk every rookie gets, the small rickety one in the back beside the noisy air conditioner. At the station, he mostly made coffee and then ran around collecting everyone’s paperwork. Outside of the station, he patrolled for parking violations and hoodlum teenagers trying to deface property and drink on the preserve. The shifts he was working were unpredictable and long. 

Stiles didn’t mind though. 

He knew every person here had gone through exactly the same thing. Actually, he was probably getting off easy. Everyone here knew who he was, and most of them had known him since he was a little kid. The usual banter and teasing of the new guy didn’t work out so well when Stiles already had a relationship with everybody here. 

It was nice. 

Stiles spent most of his morning making and remaking the coffee. He did a breakfast run for the deputies who had been working overnight and who still had two hours left when Stiles got there. He organized some paperwork, and then left a neat stack on his dad’s desk to review when he came in for his afternoon shift. 

He was just starting to organize a new filing cabinet when Derek came in. Stiles glanced at the clock. 9 am, lucky bastard. Stiles looked forward to when he had enough seniority to sleep in on a work day. 

Derek smiled at him as he passed, and Stiles smiled right back. Derek always looked so cool in his uniform. Sometimes, Stiles liked to fantasize about- 

Stiles shook that thought away before it fully formed. He was at work. He couldn’t start fantasizing about Derek and his _work_ _uniform_. Stiles focused back on his task, removing the folders so he could sort them alphabetically and not… however these had been sorted before. 

Derek came back again, grinning at Stiles as he rummaged through the pages. “You know, I don’t think a newbie has ever organized all of our folders before.”

Stiles glanced at him, “I can kind of tell.”

“Most rookies usually beg senior deputies to take them out with us when we go on patrol. Ride along’s are better than sitting here and doing nothing all day but wait on people.” 

Stiles shrugged. “I don’t mind. Someone needed to organize these. Besides, I’ve gone on plenty of ride along’s with you and Dad before.” 

Derek hummed, taking a sip of his coffee. “You also have made the best coffee, by the way.” 

“Thanks,” Stiles said distractedly, placing more folders in place, “so, hey, these are all for like DNA evidence and stuff. I never thought about that before. We don’t have like, a CSI team, or a lab or something, where does all our evidence go?” 

“We ship it down to a lab in LA. Takes a lot longer, but it’s cheaper than hiring someone down there to come up here every time we need something.” 

Stiles looked at him skeptically, “but were you guys trained to collect evidence? To read the clues of the crime scene? I just did training. We learned how to collect things, sure, but I don’t know if it’s quiet the same - and how much longer does it take to get evidence back? Days?” 

“Weeks,” Derek shrugged, “it’s Beacon Hills, Stiles, not Las Vegas or whatever city the _TV show_ _CSI_ is set in. Yeah, sometimes we need to send in evidence, but it’s mostly for recurring B&E’s, not murders. And we know how to collect evidence just fine, thanks.” 

Stiles huffed. “Beacon Hills is growing, Derek. There’s a lot of stuff here that hasn’t been sent back yet. That’s a lot of cases put on hold, for who knows how long! We should get a lab.” 

“It’s your third day, Stiles. I think maybe you should focus on getting through your first month here before you start revamping the entire place.” 

Stiles bit his lip, but nodded his head after a minute, “you’re right. Dad won’t listen to me if I don’t at least pretend to work with this system first.” 

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant,” Derek said with a groan. Stiles grinned at him. 

“What are you doing today, anyway?” Stiles asked. 

“Parrish and I are going to check on a break in. Suspect left behind some mysterious green liquid.” 

Stiles laughed, “the supernatural duo going to check it out then?” 

Derek and Parrish were the only officers on the force ‘in the know’ of the supernatural world. Before these two, an older generation of Hales had worked here. The Hale pack had been living in Beacon Hills since the town was created, and they always had a member of the pack in the department. It made dealing with the supernatural chaos a lot easier when there as a man on the inside to forge paperwork. 

Now, it was Derek. After everything he had been through as a teen, Derek was constantly finding ways to help his pack, and to help people in general. Stiles thought the job suited him. 

Stiles wouldn’t be surprised if Liam ended up joining as well, after he finished school. 

Between the Sheriff, Derek and Parrish, they worked out fine. Most supernatural problems were dealt with by the pack before anyone had a chance to report it to the police anyway. 

“Yeah. Hey, after you get some experience, you’ll be able to tag along with one of us too. You’ll be a great back up plan,” Derek said with a smile. His words stung. Being a backup plan was not what Stiles had had in mind when he joined the team. 

But he smiled at Derek, not wanting to dampen his mood. “Yeah, great.” 

“See you later, Stiles. Don’t let these guys work you too hard.” Derek flicked Stiles ear as he walked passed, making Stiles squak in protest. 

Stiles watched Derek leave, before turning back to reorganizing the filing cabinet from hell.

He pushed Derek’s words out of his mind as he worked. He should have known better, to think he was going to be anything more than ‘one of the guys’ to Derek. Especially after he joined the team. 

This is what he wanted. Stiles just had to remind himself of that. 

\-- 

Stiles was taking to police work like... Well, Stiles. The kid never did anything normally. 

Where Derek, and other rookies, used to spend their days eagerly trying to impress their superiors, Stiles mostly spent his days alone. Looking at all their paperwork. Apparently the department was not as organized as Derek had assumed they were. Derek had tried to convince Stiles go on patrol with him, but he had waved him off. There were ‘things he was looking into’ apparently. 

When Derek had tried to ask what, exactly, he was looking into, Stiles had rambled on about labs, and expenses, and did they ever check for fingerprints?! 

Derek regretted asking. 

On the second day of Stiles second week, Derek forced him into a patrol, taking him around the high school and downtown. Stiles kept an eye out for anything suspicious. Derek relaxed into the easy rhythm of his work day, his wolf happy with having Stiles sitting beside him. 

Stiles had not looked as happy. 

Derek tried to ask him about what he thought of the new missing persons case, and Stiles had snorted and muttered something about a location spell. Derek knew for a fact that even  _ Deaton _ was not strong enough to perform such a spell, so he didn’t know why Stiles was complaining about it now. The team was doing the best with what they had, they would probably find the guy within a week… Stiles was probably just frustrated that he couldn’t be on the case. 

The two of them gave out one ticket for speeding, but otherwise found nothing out of the ordinary. They headed back to the station, waving at their replacements as they drove in. Stiles immediately went back to the piles of paperwork at his desk. Derek went to talk to the Sheriff. 

The Sheriff did not seem surprised by his concerns. 

“I knew this would happen,” the older man groaned, leaning back in his chair and running a hand over his face. Derek wondered if he had really been surprised himself, but then realized he wasn’t at all. He had kind of expected this to happen too. “That boy has always had too many brains for his own good. He would be a great cop in a bigger city, but Beacon Hills? There’s not much here for him to do.” 

Derek shifted on his feet. “Well, he seems happy doing what he’s doing right now.” 

“For how long? If I know my son, and I do, he is going to remodel the entire station within a year, and then he’ll start at the beginning again until it’s perfect. Which it will never be.” Derek thought that was a bit extreme. Stiles was only trying to help. “Next time something supernatural comes up, he’s going with you. That kid needs a case.” 

Derek sputtered. “A case? I didn’t get to take on a case the first  _ year _ , let alone the first  _ month _ !” 

The sheriff shrugged, “Stiles has been working with the supernatural for 10 years, he can handle a few noise complaints caused by a banshee.” 

“Lydia and her grandmother have learned-” The Sheriff held up his hand. Right, not the point. 

“Stiles can handle whatever supernatural thing,” the Sheriff shook his hand to encompass all supernatural beings in a move that reminded Derek very much of his son. “I know you and Parrish have a system, but when you were a rookie we also had your Aunts around as well. They’re gone now. And lately, I’ve been too busy to tag team you two. Not only that, but Jordan has about a hundred sick days HR is pushing me to force him into. According to them, deputies who never take sick days are the ones that eventually snap.” 

Derek frowned, feeling mildly offended, “I never take sick days.” 

“Yeah, and in a few years I’ll be having the exact same conversation with you.” The Sheriff shook his head in the same way he always did when he thought about how weird the supernatural world he has found himself in was. “It’s not like I can explain to them that the two of you can never get sick. Jordan will have to think of it as a paid vacation.” 

Derek clenched and unclenched his fists. This conversation was taking a turn he did not like. “Okay fine, but even if you and Parrish are busy, I can handle the supernatural side on my own. We don’t need Stiles to-” 

“You need somebody available to call in for backup if you are already busy fighting. Whether it’s backup here, or your mother, you need someone around to make that call. I’ve seen you take on rogue omega’s by yourself, Derek, you don’t have a hand to spare. It’s too dangerous alone, you’re taking Stiles.” 

Derek growled, this was exactly what he had been afraid of, “but if it’s dangerous-” 

“Then you’ll be taking the best deputy who knows about the situation.” The Sheriff lifted his brows at him, “Stiles can handle it, Derek. You’re taking him and that’s final.”

Derek didn’t think Stiles could handle it. Stiles could barely throw a punch, how the hell was he supposed to be backup for a rogue omega? Stiles had only joined the bloody force to be with Derek - how was he going to handle anything?!

“Is that all?” The Sheriff asked, leaning over his paperwork again. 

Derek bit his tongue. The Sheriff had made up his mind. “Yes sir.” 

\-- 

Stiles perked up in his desk hair, smiling at the three tiny faces popping up on his computer screen. These bimonthly skype dates were a great idea. He and Lydia were genius. 

“Hey!” Allison waved cheerfully. Scott and Stiles waved back. Lydia focused on adjusting her camera. “How is everyone? How’s school? How’s work?” 

“Great!” Scott started, as usual, telling them all about university and how he was so sure he was on the right track to becoming a vet. Stiles started doodling halfway through, since he had heard all of this before, and he could see Lydia doing something similar. Which left Allison and Scott to make heart eyes at each other… typical. 

“I’m doing fantastic as well,” Lydia chimed in a few minutes later. “The masters program here is not nearly as difficult as everyone was saying it would be.” They all chimed in with praise for Lydia’s brilliance as she went into detail on how well she was doing a few weeks into her masters program. Again, typical. 

Then Allison told a story about learning how to draw blood, and missing the vein twice. Gross, but a classic Allison tale. She was doing well in school, and would most likely be working at Beacon Hills Hospital next year. They were all very proud of her. 

Then all eyes were on him… probably, it was hard to tell, but everyone was staring at their screens expectantly. Stiles started to fidget. 

“Well?” Lydia asked. 

“Well...?” 

“How’s it going, man?” Scott asked with a grin. “Caught any bad guys yet?” 

“Uh, no. Not yet. It’s... fine, I guess.” Stiles said, looking down to his desk at his childlike doodles of werewolves. 

“Only fine?” Allison asked, looking concerned. 

Stiles sighed, “it’s only been two weeks. Newbies rarely get put on anything important for their first  _ year _ . I’ve been organizing the paperwork and stuff, and that feels useful, but as for patrolling? It’s kind of boring.” 

“Well, how’s working with Derek? And your dad?” Lydia asked, eyeing him through the screen. 

“It’s fine. Good- great! Cool, seeing them in their natural habitat. Derek mostly works with Parrish or Stevenson though, and Dad’s either out by himself or in his office working on meetings or paperwork… I guess I thought I would see them around more…” 

“It’s still only your first two weeks, buddy, I’m sure you’ll see them around more after you’re more settled,” Scott said, reassuring smile on his face. 

“I’m not going to settle for like a year, Scott, new cops get the worst and most random shifts. Derek and Dad both switch between morning and evening shifts, only sometimes working nights. I’m all over the place.” 

“Hey, you’re still doing what you wanted to do, right? You’re helping the team. Your community. You’re following in your dad’s footsteps. Doesn’t matter if you’re not the one taking the cases, you’re still there. Right?” Allison said, also with a reassuring smile. 

Stiles loved those two - they were seriously his only hope at finding a silver lining sometimes. He didn’t always understand their undying optimism though. Stiles was pretty sure that at the moment, he wasn’t helping anybody. “Yeah,” he lied, putting on a big smile to appease their worries and feeling grateful that Scott couldn’t hear his heartbeat through the screen, “I’m sure it’ll work itself out once I’ve been here longer.” 

Allison and Scott beamed at him, but Lydia looked suspicious. Stiles quickly said goodnight after that, claiming he had an early morning shift... Which he did, but not as early as he implied. 

He collapsed onto his bed afterward, staring up at the ceiling he’d been staring at his entire life. It felt a bit lame, still living at home with his dad, but the two of them were rarely home at the same time, so it mostly felt like he lived alone. Besides, he was saving a ton of money on rent. 

He thought about his first two official weeks done working at the department. He hadn’t entirely lied to Scott and the girls, it was... Nice. It was cool seeing where his dad has been working all these years, and it was fun having Derek around every now and then. But… the last half of his second week, everyone had been working on cases. Stevie and Rachel had been working on a missing person. Derek and Parrish were following up with the green goo guy. His dad and Tara were dealing with a domestic abuse case and meetings with the foster system. The most Stiles had done was organize file folders and mail the evidence down to the LA lab. 

The reason he had joined the force in the first place was so he could help people the way his dad helped people. The way Derek had helped him. Right now, he did not feel like he was helping anybody. 

His phone vibrated beside him. He grabbed at it, squinting at the screen. 

_ From Lyds:  _

_ How are you really doing?  _

Stiles groaned. Damn the woman and her brilliance. Why couldn’t she buy his fake cheer like Scott and Allison had. 

_ To Lyds:  _

_ Fine. Too high expectations.  _

He typed back quickly, hoping she wouldn’t call. She wanted what was best for him, but he really did have an early morning tomorrow. 

_ From Lyds:  _

_ Derek will come around. Don’t worry.  _

Stiles laughed. Always came back to Derek with this girl. 

_ To Lyds:  _

_ Not just Derek. Working here is... Not going as expected.  _

Stiles watched as the little dots bounced on the screen. They disappeared. Bounced on the screen again. He wondered if she was writing something extremely long, or if she didn’t know how to respond. 

_ From Lyds:  _

_ I know. You’ll figure that out eventually too. Don’t worry.  _

Stiles frowned, wondering what the hell that meant. She texted goodnight soon after though, so there was no asking now. He texted back a quick goodnight, and then rolled underneath his covers. He had had one day off before the start of his third week. 

He hoped tomorrow would be a better day than the last two weeks. 

\-- 

Stiles spent most of his morning organizing paperwork - again. Seriously, it was like no one had thought to look over these rows and rows of files after they shoved papers into them. He was three hours into his shift, and two coffee’s down, when Derek came inside and beelined directly at him. 

Stiles dropped the file he was reading in surprise. 

“Do you urgently need to mail something?” Stiles asked, cheeks burning as he grabbed the pages off the floor. 

Derek raised an eyebrow in confusion. “No. Get ready, you’re coming with me to investigate a suspicious noise in the woods.” 

Stiles deflated, “oh, more patrolling?” 

“Not patrolling,” Derek said, taking the folder out of Stiles' hands and putting it back in the cabinet. “This looks like it might be a case.” 

“A case!” Stiles yelped, blushing again when two deputies glanced over at them. “Ah ha, sorry. A case?” He asked again in a normal voice. 

Derek rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell you about it in the car.” 

Stiles beamed, grabbing his jacket and racing after Derek. A case! 

\-- 

“So suspicious noises mixed with suspicious glowing light coming out of the preserve equals a supernatural case to you?” Stiles asked, looking out the window as they sped into the treeline. “It could just be kids playing in the woods.” 

“Or it could be kids playing with  _ magic  _ in the woods.” Derek replied, looking at Stiles pointedly. 

“Okay, I got caught one time and I easily played it off as a prank using my cell phone and flashlights.” 

Derek grunted, “you were lucky Stevenson is half blind and thinks you’re an idiot.” 

Stiles stuck his tongue out at him, because he was mature. 

“This could be anything, we don’t know. Keep your guard up.” Derek pulled up on the side of the road and got out. Stiles giddily followed him. He didn’t care if this did end up being a bunch of kids messing around, he would still have to write up a report about it. 

And if it wasn’t kids, this could be his first real bonafied case! 

“Walk.  _ Quietly _ .” Derek grit out a few yards into the trees. 

Stiles nodded seriously. Right. This could be anything with super hearing or whatever. He tried to walk through the twigs and plants the way Laura had taught him, slinking through the underbrush like a wolf. He probably looked like an idiot, but he was much quieter this way. 

From the way Derek looked back at him with both amusement and approval, it appeared he agreed. 

Stiles and Derek snuck through the woods, keeping their eyes (and Derek’s nose) peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Stiles was stoked. He was finally doing it! Out in the woods, helping Derek work a case. Saving their town from an unknown supernatural baddy... Sure, he’d done this exact same thing before with the pack and Deaton, but now he was doing it as his job! Not as a pack add on or magic helper. He was making a difference. He was helping his city. He was taking a step forward in his career. He was- 

“There’s nothing out here.” Derek said, ruining Stiles epic inner dialogue. “We’ve been searching for an hour and I haven’t seen or smelled anything.” 

Stiles frowned, “well, maybe we’re in the wrong spot? Maybe we should go a little longer, just to make sure?” He didn’t want this to end with nothing. He had finally been doing something! 

Derek shook his head, “no, we already looked around where it was reported. This may have been a fake call in, or whatever was here has left. It happens. Let’s go.” He turned around and started walking briskly back to the car. Stiles did not follow. 

“Deerekk,” Stiles whined. He didn’t want to go back to doing nothing at the station. He was useless there! 

Derek’s head fell back in exasperation. “Stiles, we can’t-” Derek started to say, but stopped talking as soon as he turned around. The next thing Stiles knew, Derek was right beside him, shoving Stiles behind his back and growling loudly. 

Stiles gripped to Derek’s shirt, attempting to stay on his feet as he was manhandled. He whipped his head around, trying to spot whatever had Derek on the defense. He froze when his eyes landed on two tall, greenish, figures standing right in front of them. 

“No need to growl, dog. We are not here to harm you.” One of them said. Her… his...? Their voice sounded like music, echoing in the trees. They were both dressed in long silky robes, and they had the posture of royalty. 

Stiles knew as soon as he saw their green faces and pointy ears they were Fae, but their clothes and voices really made them seem like Elves from  _ Lord of The Rings _ . 

“What do you want?” Derek growled. The two Fae glanced at him, then turned their eyes on Stiles. Stiles felt his own eyes widen in surprise. “Answer me, nymphs! What do you want?” 

Stiles snapped out of his surprise to smack Derek on the arm. “They’re Fae, Derek, not ‘nymphs.’” He stepped out from behind Derek’s back. From what he had read, the Fae were powerful but not unkind beings. Derek threw an arm out to keep Stiles behind him. Stiles rolled his eyes, but allowed it. 

“The magic user is correct, we are Fae.” The other Fae said, their voice just as musical and echoey. This one was a bit taller.. And more yellowy green. It was also smiling, whereas the other one had been frowning. 

Stiles decided to call them Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. 

“We wish to speak to the human alone.” Oscar said, staring right at Stiles. Stiles glanced at Derek, unsure what to do. Derek looked livid. 

“No.” Derek growled. “I am a representative of the local law enforcement and a member of the local wolfpack. Tell me your business within the territory of Beacon Hills and the Hale Pack lands.” 

The Fae ignored him, keeping their eyes on Stiles. He felt Derek tense up beside him, and decided to speak before things turned physical. 

“If you’re here peacefully, why won’t you answer any of our questions?” 

“You have not asked any,” Big Bird said, their musical voice did not stop the sting of the words. Derek stiffened. Stiles placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. 

“Derek has asked several questions,” Stiles pointed out, keeping his voice even. 

“We do not speak to dogs,” Oscar said, eyes moving to glare at Derek for a moment, before moving back to Stiles. “You may ask us anything, magic user. Humans are our brethren. But we wish to speak to you alone.” 

Derek growled again, grabbing onto Stiles shoulder this time. The two Fae stepped forward, raising their hands with bright glowing white light and- 

And no. This was ridiculous. 

Stiles stepped forward, throwing an arm in front of Derek. “If you wish to speak to me, you may speak freely to both of us. Derek here is my partner. Whatever you tell me about your business here, I will be telling him anyway.” 

The light dimmed, and then faded entirely. The two Fae looked between Derek and Stiles, and then at each other. 

“This wolf, he is your partner?” Big Bird asked. 

Stiles nodded, “yes. We’re here together.” 

They glanced at each other again. Finally Oscar made a hand gesture and Big Bird nodded. “Alright. He may stay. Ask your questions.” 

The grip Derek had on his shoulder loosened, but he did not let go. Stiles smiled at the Fae, trying his best to keep everyone civil now that they were getting somewhere. 

“Why are you here?”

“In our world, it is tradition for our royalty to spend a year in the human world, to see what life is like beyond out forest walls. In this case, our Princess has been living in Beacon Hills for the past 10 months.” Big Bird said. 

Stiles glanced back at Derek. He looked surprised too. 

“Each month, our Princess contacts us to inform us of her worldly journey, and reassure us that she is still safe. Two months ago, we did not receive a message. Last month we did not receive a message. Now, we are here to make sure she is still alive.” Oscar finished. 

Stiles thought about this. Okay, shouldn’t be too hard. “Why don’t you go into town and see her?” 

Both heads swiveled to Derek. “This town is under the protection of a wolfpack. We can not enter.” 

Derek’s hand clenched down on Stiles shoulder tightly. Stiles smiled awkwardly to hide his wince. “Okkayy, well. What does she look like? Where was she staying? We’ll go get her for you. You can all go home by tonight.” 

“We do not know.” Oscar said. 

Stiles frowned. “You don’t know where she lives? Fine. What does she look like?” 

“We do not know.” Big Bird said. 

Stiles glanced back at Derek, who furrowed his brows at him. Stiles sighed, stepping back to be beside the man. This was getting weird. “How do you not know what your princess looks like?” 

“She is in a human disguise when she leaves her home. She could be a elderly man, or a teenage girl. We do not know for sure.” 

Stiles rubbed a hand through his hair. “What has she told you about her stay here? That should tell us what she’s been living as.” 

“We do not-” 

“Do not know. Right. Sheesh. Alright. What do you want us to do about this?” 

“Find her. Return her to us.” Big Bird said. “We will meet here, in one weeks time.” 

Stiles looked to Derek, who nodded. Right, they could find some girl in a week. “Okay, we can do that.” 

“We will give you a communication device to update us nightly. You will need to be together at all times, the magic user as our unofficial Fae representative, and the wolf as the representative of the wolfpack. This should not be difficult for you, as you are mated-” 

“Mated!?” Stiles squeaked. Derek growled beside him. Stiles didn’t know if it was because Stiles had flailed his arm into Derek’s face, or if Derek was also confused by the mated thing. 

“Are you not?” Oscar the Grouch asked, eyes moving between the man and the wolf, “does ‘partner’ not mean ‘mate’ to humans? If we were incorrect, we can remove the werewolf problem now and enter the city freely on our own.” 

“Oh! Mate! Remove problem as in kil-? Yeah, no, yes,” Stiles leaned into Derek’s side, throwing an arm over his shoulder, “yes. Derek here is my mate. My lovebug. My own little honeysuckle. Partner, yes.” 

Derek glared at him, but Stiles glared at him right back. Grudgingly, Derek threw an arm around Stiles waste, pulling him in close. 

Stiles chose to ignore how nice it felt. 

“Okkayy, so. We will contact. You. Together. Because we do that. Live together, yes. Because we are mated.” 

“Stiles.” Derek grit out. 

“Right,” Stiles coughed, “how are we contacting you?” 

Oscar was eyeing them suspiciously, but Big Bird smiled and handed Stiles a large snail shell. Stiles took it with a confused smile. 

“Speak into it, and we will hear you,” Big Bird explained. 

Stiles nodded. “Great. See you in a week then.” 

“And we will speak to you tonight,” Oscar said. 

“Yes, talk to you soon!” 

Big Bird and Oscar both nodded, and then vanished into white light. 

“Stiles-” 

“Now, now, sweetie, we don’t know where they went. Let’s get back to the car before you start loving all over me.” Stiles said through a smile, linking hands with Derek for their walk back to the car. “Even there we might want to be careful, don’t know how this snail thing works.” 

Derek let out a huff, but didn’t argue with him as they walked back to the car. 

This was definitely not going how Stiles had pictured his first case. 

\-- 

Derek drove to the first place he could think of where he would be able to yell at Stiles. 

Stiles house. The Sheriff was still at the station, and they could leave the weird bug thing in the car. 

He had to purposefully take calming breaths so he didn’t bend the wheel under his hands. 

Mates. 

Stiles had told the Fae they were  _ mates _ . 

Derek didn’t know why Stiles’ fake smile and shoulder squeeze had hurt so much. Had pierced him through the middle, and stung even more when Derek was forced to do the same. He didn’t know why he hated the idea of faking being with Stiles so much it made him want to gouge his own eyes out. 

He didn’t understand what he was feeling. But he didn’t like it. 

Derek slammed on the brakes in front of the house, marching up the walk without looking back to see if Stiles was following him. 

He was standing with folded arms in the living room by the time Stiles caught up to him. 

“Mated?” Derek asked, a low growl still in his throat. 

“Would you prefer to be dead?” Stiles shot back, heading to the kitchen instead of the living room. Derek frowned and followed after him. 

“You didn’t have to say we were-” 

“I’m sorry you’re, like, uncomfortable with this, but this was clearly the best option here,” Stiles said, pulling cans of pop out of the fridge and throwing one at Derek. “The Fae are powerful, Derek, trust me when I say we would not have been able to take two on at once. This way, you and your family get to live, we get to solve a case together, Fae get to leave happy in a few days. Everyone wins. Easy peasy.”

  
  


Uncomfortable. Stiles thought the idea of being mated to him made Derek  _ uncomfortable _ . Ironic, considering Derek was pretty sure  _ Stiles _ was the one who would be uncomfortable if he knew how real this was. If Stiles knew how much Derek want to wrap his arms around him, pull him close, kiss him until- 

No. Stiles would be more than uncomfortable. Stiles would never talk to him again. The only reason he was willing to do anything with Derek now was because the lives of everyone in the pack were at stake. 

Derek pushed the thoughts aside. 

“Easy peasy?” Derek repeated after a beat, focusing back on the case they now had. He closed his eyes to rub a hand over his face. This was getting more complicated by the second, and Stiles cocky attitude wasn’t helping. “Stiles, how the hell are we going to find a princess without an address or a description?” 

“That’s pretty obvious, don’t you think?” Stiles asked with a smirk, taking a sip of his Snapple. 

“I think you’re letting this case thing get to your head. You don’t have the first clue about finding a missing person!” 

“Then it’s a good thing we already have two experienced cops on the case, isn’t it?” Stiles leaned against the counter, glaring at Derek with an annoyed yet challenging look. Derek took a second to process Stiles words. 

“Two experienced... You mean Stevenson and Rachel?” 

“Have you heard about any other missing people in Beacon Hills?” 

“Stiles, their case is a 40 year old man!” 

“Derek, welcome to the world of the supernatural! I thought you lived here? The princess can look like anything she wants. A 40 year old man is a great disguise!” 

That pulled Derek up short. Damn magic, always complicating things. 

“Alright, I’ll go back to the station and talk to them, see if they’ve made any leads. You go on the database and read everything they have so far on the missing man.” 

Stiles fiddled with the tab on his can, “I could do a location spell to find-” 

“No.” 

Stiles flailed, throwing the can into the sink, “Derek, I can totally-” 

Derek crossed his arms, “Has Deaton ever successfully pulled off a location spell?” 

“Not that I know of, but-” 

“Then you aren’t trying it.” 

“Derek! I-” 

“Stiles! I am the lead on this case. You are lucky to even be on this case! You will follow my orders, rookie! Now research the man, and don’t complain about it!” Derek snapped, slamming his own can down on the kitchen table. 

Stiles stared back at him with a pale face and narrowed eyes. Derek didn’t back down though, even when the sour smell of Stiles anger and sadness filled the air. 

“Fine,  _ sir _ . I’ll research the guy.” 

Derek nodded once. “Good.” He turned and made his way out of the house, sliding into his car without another word. Stiles followed behind at a much slower pace. 

A part of Derek ached to see his boy so mad at him but Stiles had to learn. Being a cop was not a fun and games job. 

And Stiles needed to stay safe. 

\-- 

“Wait, let me hear this explanation one more time.” 

Derek rolled his eyes at his little sister, regretting once again that he chose to live with her. Yes it had been great sharing space with other pack members without living in the actual pack house, but he does not feel like he has escaped nearly as much drama as he could have if he had just lived alone. 

“There are Fae looking for their missing princess. They think Stiles and I are mated. Stiles has to sleep here for the next two nights while we work on the case, or it could put all werewolves in Beacon Hills in danger.” 

Cora and Erica both burst into laughter again. For the third time. Derek could admit the story was weird, but it was not this funny. 

“Why does Stiles have to sleep here? Are the Fae watching you?” Isaac asked. 

“No. They’re listening in with a…” Derek looked warily at the still laughing Cora and Erica, “with a snail shell.” He winced when the two cackling girls laughed even harder, and that even Kira was now joining in on the laughs. 

“This is not that funny!” Derek snapped. 

“Come on, Derek. It’s a little funny,” Boyd said.  _ Boyd _ . Derek’s last hope. 

“Fae are forcing you and Stiles into a fake relationship, and they’re listening in with a snail shell?” Erica said, “this is hilarious!” 

Derek waved his arms, giving up. He left the room of laughing werewolves (and Kitsune) behind to finish setting up Stiles air mattress. They had decided to switch between their two homes during the week, spending the first two nights at Derek and then the next two at Stiles’. Hopefully it wouldn’t stretch out much longer than that. 

Not that Derek had a problem spending time with Stiles. He had spent many of his late-teen years sleeping over at the younger man’s house. But things were different now. They hadn’t had a sleepover in three years, and since then Derek had started to… Derek shook his head. 

Just because things were different for Derek now didn’t mean they were different for Stiles. If he acted normal, everything would be fine. 

“Hey, Derek?” 

“Yeah, what’s up?” Derek asked, throwing the last pillow onto Stiles bed. (Stiles liked to sleep with two pillows  _ minimum _ ). He looked up to see Isaac and Kira standing in the doorway, giving him an awkward smile. 

“We were... Sorry for laughing. We know how touchy you get about your relationship with Stiles.” Kira said, inching into the room. 

“Yeah. We know we all tease you two a lot, but we don’t want you forced into anything you don’t want.” Isaac said, leaning against the doorframe. 

Derek frowned at the wording, but appreciated the gesture. It made sense people found it so funny, considering the whole pack wanted Derek and Stiles to get together. They weren’t like that, though. 

Stiles didn’t want that. 

“Thank you.” Derek said, smiling at his sister’s best friends. He had known these two since they were babies, but looking at them now.. Derek was proud to call them his packmates. 

His own two best friends were still laughing it up in the living room. 

Isaac nodded, giving him one last smile before walking out again. Kira hesitated, so Derek waited for her to speak up. He threw an extra blanket onto Stiles bed, knowing he often got cold. 

“I know that-” Kira started, before shaking her head. “You two have a bond. We can all.. see that. But be careful, okay? With this and Stiles? I just… I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” 

Derek looked at her, his breath catching in his throat. She didn’t want anyone..? Oh. She knew about Derek’s feelings for Stiles. She figured it out and now she was pitying him. 

“I’ll be careful,” he promised, swallowing past the lump on his throat. He was always careful with Stiles. This wouldn’t change anything between them. 

Kira nodded, but she still looked unsure as she walked away. 

She had nothing to worry about though. Derek always made sure nothing bad happened to Stiles. Including Derek’s feelings. 

\-- 

The case was taking days. Days! For something that Stiles could have easily accomplished in minutes! Derek refused to listen to reason though, claiming old fashioned police work was better than magic. His logic was stupid. 

Stiles had researched the guy, Walt Ringwater, and he was pretty sure this was their princess. The man had a backstory, born and raised in LA, an orphan with only a brother still living down in the city. Recently moved to Beacon Hills to work at their newspaper here. 

Why would a big city journalist move to the tiny town of Beacon Hills? Exactly 10 months ago? Because they weren’t a journalist at all, but a Fae princess trying to explore the world around her without looking suspicious. Also - the name Ringwater? Screamed someone who had lived in the woods their whole life. 

Stiles had to give it to her, it was a pretty genius move to work with the newspaper. He hoped she had learned everything she had wanted to before she had gone missing, because she was not going back to working there after they found her. 

Derek had been periodically checking in with Rachel and Stevie, but they were getting nowhere. Their theories were he had either moved back down to LA without telling anyone, or that he was kidnapped by a rival newspaper. 

Which… Really? Was the newspaper business really that dangerous? 

Derek and Stiles, on the other hand, knew that Ringwater had no actual family down in LA, and that they  _ probably _ did not have any enemies in the newspaper industry. Their best theory was that someone had discovered she was the Fae princess, and had kidnapped her for power, or something. 

They had spent the day searching through Ringwater’s apartment. Rachel and Stevenson had already searched said apartment, but had barely looked around when there was no sign of a struggle. They also believe that some of the man’s clothes were missing, supporting their theory that he moved without notice… Stiles is pretty sure Ringwater just does not have that many clothes. 

Other than the ‘strange smell of magic’ Derek had smelled, there was nothing out of place that they saw either. Obviously changing into a disguise everytime she left her house had left behind a magical spell. There was nothing here. 

Stiles dusted for fingerprints anyway, because Stevie and Rachel had not and Derek was too busy smelling around. He also collected a few pieces of hair. 

Derek went off to interview Ringwater’s coworkers. Stiles mailed off the pieces of hair. Now he was sitting and looking over the fingerprints, laughing to himself whenever Rachel and Stevie came up with a new theory from three desks over. 

A moment later, their conversation was forgotten. Stiles stared down at the fingerprints on his desk, feeling a bubble of happiness blow up inside of him. 

“Holy shit,” he whispered, grabbing his phone to call Derek. 

“What.” Derek’s voice came through the phone, as straightforward as ever. 

Stiles huffed, “hello to you too.”

“I saw you an hour ago. What is it?” 

“There are two separate fingerprints here. There was someone else in the apartment!” 

“Alright. We need to run the prints.” Derek’s voice came through. Stiles jumped in his seat. 

“Okay, how do we do that?” He asked. 

“Stick everything in an envelope and send it down to LA.” 

Stiles gaped down at his desk, “are you fucking kidding me? We don’t even have something to run  _ fingerprints _ up here?!” 

“We’re a small department, Stiles. It doesn’t take that long.” 

“We only have a week to find the princess, Derek!” 

A sigh blew across the phone, “stop yelling about saving princess’s while you’re working at the station. I’ll be back soon.” 

The dial tone rang, and Stiles slammed his phone down in annoyance. He moved quickly, shoving everything he had into an envelope, scrawling urgent across the paper in the hopes it would get through faster. He pauses before sealing the bag, then decides it wouldn’t hurt to add one more piece of paper. He scrawled out a note with his phone number, hoping they would call him with the matches before sending it all back by snail mail. 

He doubted they would. It was worth a try. 

He pushed the damn thing into the mail before falling back into his desk with a grimace of annoyance. There was nothing else he could do now. 

Working a supernatural case without magic sucked. 

\-- 

Stiles lay in his bed, staring at Derek as the morning light fell across his face. It was really unfair how beautiful the man was. 

They were staying at his house for the next two nights, and Derek had brought over his own air mattress. The snail shell sat on the bedside table between them. It was a strange shell, not quite green, not quite blue,  _ way _ too big for a snail. Their nighty updates were a bit awkward, since Big Bird and Oscar only ever replied with ‘good.’ The two of them would stand there, waiting to see if there was more, but there never was. Stiles insisted it was better than ‘bad’, but Derek looked more annoyed each night. 

Stiles hoped he wasn’t getting more annoyed because he was being forced to sleep in the same room as Stiles... that would be a kick to the ego. 

Stiles had been enjoying all the time the two of them had been spending together, it was like he was 14 again and had his best friend Derek back. The person he had always felt safest with...For Derek though, it really seemed like he was suffering through it for the job. By the time this was over, he would probably be relieved not to see Stiles for- 

“Why do you always do this?” 

Stiles jumped when Derek spoke, blushing beet red when Derek cracked an eye open to look at him. Crap. Caught red handed. 

“How do you know I was doing-?” 

“Werewolf. I can feel it when I have eyes on me.” Derek said with a smirk. 

Stiles sat up, throwing blankets and pillows around as he scrambled out of the bed. “I was just checking to see the time, and, you know, to see if you were awake yet. Cause I didn’t want to wake you. Yet. If it was too early. And you always wake up when I leave the room, werewolf senses and all. Anyway, did you want waffles for breakfast? I can make-” 

“Stiles,” Derek caught Stiles’ arm as he flailed past the air mattress, halting his mad dash for the door. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, I don’t mind.” 

Something like hope fluttered in Stiles chest, “you don’t?” 

“No,” he smiled at Stiles, standing up so they were eye to eye, “you’ve been doing it since you were a kid. But recently-“ 

“Knock, knock,” Stiles dad said, before he actually knocked on the door and opened it. Derek dropped his arm and was turning towards his air mattress before his dad even stepped into the room. 

Stiles couldn’t help but feel disappointed, he wanted to know what Derek was going to say. 

“Morning guys, I’ve got coffee on downstairs. I was wondering if either of you wanted a ride to the station before I take off?” 

“No, we’re fine.” Stiles said, smile in place. “Thanks dad.” 

“Alright, see you in a bit,” he waved and headed out. Stiles turned and tried to catch Derek’s eye as he listened to his dad head down the stairs and out the door. 

Derek remained focused on organizing his bed. 

“Derek-“ 

“I’m, uh, going to head to the shower first. If you don’t mind.” Derek said. His hands were curled around his clothes, and he wasn’t meeting Stiles' eyes. 

Stiles felt his heart sink. 

“No… that’s fine.” 

Derek nodded and left the room without another word. Leaving Stiles behind to wonder what Derek had wanted to say. 

He heard the bathroom door click shut. He didn’t know what was happening, but it sounded like Derek felt a change growing between them too. Maybe… maybe Derek no longer saw him as the crying ten year old he had met at a motel all those years ago. 

Maybe Derek thought they could be more. 

Stiles grabbed onto his flickering hope and held it tight. They had a case to solve, but after… after, he and Derek were going to have a talk. 

Stiles wasn’t so afraid of it anymore. If anything, he wanted to finish this case as fast as possible now. 

\-- 

Stiles was… determined. Yeah, that was the word for it. 

For the first half of the week, he had been happy to follow Derek’s lead. He stayed at the station to do the research. He only went to Ringwater’s apartment when Derek was with him to supervise. He had been uncharacteristically calm and controlled. 

Derek should have known it wouldn’t last. 

Every since the morning Derek had stupidly tried to talk to Stiles… he had woken up to a smiling Stiles, and he had almost let slip- 

It didn’t matter. But something in Stiles had changed since then, and Derek didn’t like it. 

He had asked Stiles to head back to the station Wednesday morning, 3 days before they were due to bring the princess to the woods. He was hoping there might be something they had missed in the research, a third place they could search for Ringwater that Stiles might be able to find through the computer while Derek took to the streets. 

Stiles had snapped that there was nothing more to find on the computer, and he was going with Derek to hit the streets. Derek had tried to point out that it was safer for Stiles to stay at the station while Derek did the search by himself. That earned him nothing but a glare. 

So here they were. Walking around the Beacon Hills Gazet’s office, trying to find a clue for where Ringwater might have gone. 

It was bad enough that Derek now had to put a large part of his attention on making sure Stiles was safe out here with him, he was also dealing with a moody Stiles on top of that. 

“Did you check to see if there was any surveillance footage around here? Any cameras catch where Ringwater went after work that day?” 

Derek glanced up to where Stiles was looking, “I asked around, apparently most of the cameras in Beacon Hills are for show. None of those work.” 

“Great,” Stiles muttered, kicking a pinecone across the sidewalk. 

“Even if they did, we would have had to send them to San Francisco to collect the evidence. We don’t have an IT guy in-” 

“Are you  _ kidding _ me?” Stiles yelled, throwing his arms wide in exasperation, “we don’t have an IT guy in  _ all _ of Beacon Country who knows how to  _ watch _ a video?! How does northern California even survive as-!” 

“Stiles, calm down.” Derek stepped forward, grabbing Stiles arm and dragging him to the side before any passer bys saw his outburst. 

Stiles shook off his hand, “I am calm.” 

“You’re not calm. You haven’t been calm since this morning. Talk to me, what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing” Stiles said, but Derek lifted a brow at him until he relented. “I just, I feel like we’re stuck. And I… I want to finish the case.” 

Derek took a steadying breath, trying to remember that Stiles got like this sometimes. The trick was to not take it personally when he did. 

“Stiles-” 

“No, I’m sorry. I uh… I guess I wasn’t ready for this big of a case. I’m freaking out about the deadline and it’s still days away.” 

He lifted a hand and clapped Stiles' shoulder. “Don’t worry, Deputy Stilinski, we’ll find our princess. And you’ve been doing great for your first case. I was way more nervous than you are right now.” 

Stiles smiled at him sheepishly, “really?” 

“Yeah, I didn’t sleep at all during the whole thing. It lasted for a month.” 

“Oh. Well how do you know if I’m not sleeping?” 

Derek rolled his eyes, “because you’ve been keeping  _ me _ up with your snoring.” 

“Hey!” Stiles laughed, shoving at Derek’s shoulder, “I do not snore.” 

Derek smiled back at him, “you do, you snore like an airplane.”

Stiles laughed again, but whatever he was about to shoot back was cut off by his phone. He grabbed it out of his pocket, frowning at the unknown number. 

“Hello, Stiles Stilinski speaking.” 

“Hi! This is Barry Alan from the LAPD labs. You had your phone number in with these fingerprints, so I was wondering if you wanted the results?” 

“Oh my god! Oh my god Barry, you are the best. Yes! I want the results.” 

Derek smiled as he watched Stiles jump up and down. 

“Alright, one of the prints did not have a match, which probably means they have no previous record. The second matched for one Jennifer Blake, also known as Julia Baccari… hard to tell which of those names came first.” 

Stiles gestured wildly at Derek, who did not understand the flailing until Stiles made a grabby motion for Derek’s note pad. 

Right. Write this down. 

“Anyway, Blake is wanted for multiple theft charges. She’s stolen jewels, ancient artifacts, stuff like that. She is also wanted for the assault of a police officer, and resisting arrest in New York. What her finger prints are doing up in Beacon Hills is anyone’s guess.” 

“Awesome, thank you so much.” 

“No problemo, Stilinski. Anything else I can do for you?” 

“Do you happen to have like, an address? By any chance? Or any known relatives of hers we could contact? I would search myself, but apparently we don’t have an IT guy.” Stiles glared at Derek as he said this. Like it was his fault. 

“Ummm..” there was clicking on the other side, so Stiles and Derek waited patiently as the man did his search. Surprisingly it only took a few minutes. “I don’t have an address for Blake, but her known associate Kali has an address right outside of Beacon Hills, want it?” 

“Yes! Thank you!” Stiles did a fist bump in the air, jumping up and down again as Derek wrote down the address. Stiles said his goodbyes to Barry, and then promptly jumped right onto Derek’s back. 

“Derek! A lead!” 

Derek laughed, “good job, Stiles. Great police work, dusting for prints and then getting the results. I always knew you were a smart one.” 

Stiles beamed at him. Derek squashed down the flutter in his heart, this wasn’t about him. Stiles was worried about his first case, and Derek was supporting him through it. 

Even if the lines between work and their personal life felt like they were blurring with each night they spent together. 

\-- 

Kali’s house was an average suburban home outside of Beacon Hills. Blue, with a well kept lawn, the house blended in with the neighborhood. Derek has been on enough drug busts by now to not be surprised by this. 

Stiles looked mildly alarmed. 

“Do you think one of  _ my _ neighbors is secretly harbouring a fugitive?” He whispered to Derek as they walked up to the door. 

“You live with the Sheriff, Stiles. And why are you whispering?” 

“You’re right. It would be too risky.” 

“Or, it would be the last place anyone would think to look.” 

Stiles made a face at him, but Derek ignored it to hit the door bell. He heard shuffling and cursing inside, but nobody came to the door. 

“Hear anything?” Stiles asked. 

“There’s definitely people inside.” Derek knocked on the door. “This is Beacon Hills Sheriff’s Department! Open up, please!” 

More shuffling, and then a loud bang. Footsteps made their way towards the door, opening shortly afterward to show Kali, smiling pleasantly at them. Derek took a moment to take in the fact that she was also a werewolf. He noted it, but put that aside. Werewolves were no more likely to commit crime than any other people. He just needed to remember to tell his mother about her later.

“Hello officers. How may I help you?” 

“Afternoon ma’am. We have a few questions about your associate Jennifer Blake.” 

Kali looked at them in mock confusion, “Jennifer Who?” 

“Jennifer Blake. We know you know her, no need to put on an act.” Stiles said. Derek shot him a look of warning. They didn’t need Kali running off before they had reason to arrest her. Right now she could slam her door on their face and there was nothing they could do about it. 

“Right, Blake! Hmm, haven’t heard anything from her in months, maybe years. Did you want to know something in particular?” 

Stiles took a step forward, “listen, lady-” Derek pulled him right back, smiling politely at the woman as Stiles glared at the back of Derek’s head. Derek did not need Stiles ruining this case right now. And he  _ really _ did not need Stiles trying to fight a full grown werewolf. 

“We were just wondering if you would know where to find her? Or contact her? Anything you can give us would be great.” 

Kali’s eyes darted between Stiles and Derek. Eventually, she nodded. “Alright, I’ll go check if I have a number for her. Stay here.” She walked further into her home, but left the door open. Probably an attempt to prove she had nothing to hide. 

“Derek, what are you doing?” Stiles hissed at him, banging at the hand still gripping his arm. Derek refused to let go. 

“I’m saving you from being mauled by a werewolf! And you can’t interrogate strangers in their own homes, Stiles!” 

Stiles stopped struggling. “She’s a werewolf? Interesting… this adds more proof that Jennifer took the princess. Probably for her power. Fae are very powerful.” 

“Great. We still have to find-” 

A scream from inside cut him off. Both of them swiveled their heads to the open door. 

“Can we go in?” Stiles asked. 

“Not yet, that could have been-” 

“Help me!” The scream came again. 

“We can go,” Derek said, dragging Stiles in after him. “Call your dad, tell him where we are. We don’t know what’s going on in here, we might need backup-”

Derek and Stiles rounded the corner, stopping short when they found Jennifer, Kali and the young Fae princess all standing around the kitchen table. The table was covered in candles, and chalk drawn lines. The windows were blacked out. Jennifer was chanting sometime, while Kali held the struggling Fae against the table. 

“Let her go!” Stiles yelled. Derek was glad he hadn’t let go of his arm yet, he didn’t know if he would have been able to stop Stiles quick dart forward otherwise. 

“Now!” Jennifer said. 

Kali’s claws sprang out at the word, and before Derek or Stiles could make more than three stops forward, she had slashed the Fae’s arm - causing blood to drip down and pool into the lines of chalk on the table. Jennifer immediately slammed her own palm on top of the blood, and then vanished with a faint pop. 

Derek stared at the spot she had been in, only breaking out of his shock when Stiles jerked forward again. 

Fuck. Kali was still holding onto the princess, dragging the girl across the room to another exit. Derek ran at her as Stiles ran for the girl. 

Kali was strong, but Derek pinned her down long enough to get handcuffs around her wrists. Thanks to Deaton, all handcuffs in Beacon Hills were made with wolfsbane as an extra ingredient. Kali started to weakened by the second as soon as the metal touched her skin. 

Derek glanced back at Stiles, who was wiping the princess’s arm with a damp cloth and a reassuring smile. “There, see? No more scratch.” Derek heard him whisper. Derek smiled when the princess ran a hand over her arm and sagged with relief. Of course Stiles would know Fae had fast healing. Stiles was a genius. 

He turned back to Kali. “You’re under arrest for aiding in a kidnapping,” Derek said, proceeding to read her rights as he walked her out to his car. It was only when she was safely in the back seat that he paid attention to what she was shouting. 

“Do whatever you want to me, by the time Jennifer comes back, she will be more powerful than us all!” 

Great. That sounded just perfect. 

“Sooo, do you want to sit in the backseat with the crazy werewolf, or should I?” 

Derek sighed, glancing back as Stiles made his way out of the house. “You didn’t call your dad, did you?” 

“No.” 

“So we only have one car.” 

“Yep.” 

“And the princess can’t sit in the back.” 

“No.” 

Derek rubbed a hand over his face before reaching into his pocket to grab his keys and throw them at Stiles. 

“You drive, I’ll sit in the back with the crazy werewolf.” 

\-- 

At the station everything went very quickly. 

Derek had Kali placed in one of their two cells. Derek and Stiles made statements tying Kali to the missing Walt Ringwater. Their on the fly story was that he had been harassed by both Kali and Jennifer because they believed he was some sort of powersource. Derek and Stiles of them claimed to have spoken to Ringwater on the phone, confirming that he had moved back home (which they thought was LA, they didn’t need to know it was the forest). The claim was backed by the fact that Jennifer’s fingerprints were in both Ringwater’s house, and probably Kali’s if someone went to check. The hair that Stiles had sent in had yet to come back, but it would probably be a match as well. 

Derek recommended Kali be given a psych evaluation, which would land her in the better supernaturally equipped Eichen House, instead of breaking out of their little jail and ending up back on the Beacon County streets within a day. 

This all went by in a bit of a blur. Halfway through Derek’s statement, Stiles finished his and went back out to the car. He assumed to check on the princess, and update the Fae through the snail. 

He updated the Sheriff on this. The man rubbed his head and sighed. Derek could relate… the Fae were even strange to him. 

Rachel and Stevenson took over the interrogation of Kali once Derek’s statement was complete, but Derek was unconcerned. He and Stiles had painted Kali as the image of an insane, power hungry, woman. Any mention of werewolves or Fae would be quickly written off as nonsense. 

It all tied up in a neat bow. All they had to do now was take the Princess into the woods, and Derek was finished with his first case with Stiles… He could admit that it hadn’t gone horribly. Stiles was a decent cop. 

He still hoped that this would tide over his boredom for at least another month. 

\-- 

Of course. _ Of course _ it was not that easy. Nothing with the supernatural ever was. 

“No.” Derek growled out for the third time. 

The short Fae glared at him. “This is not a question. Jennifer Blake has transported herself into our home. Something that has never been done before. The magic user must come with us to our City in The Trees, with or without you. We are only giving you the choice to travel with him because mates hold a treasured and sacred bond among our people.” 

Derek shut his eyes before they flashed blue at the Fae. This was.. This was.. 

“This is a bit ludicrous, it’s not like we know more about Jennifer Blake than you do.” Stiles said beside him. Derek nodded in agreement. 

The taller one smiled at them. “You have already found her once. Please, magic user, we implore your help. If this woman gains what she seeks, not only will our city fall, but most likely your human world as well.” 

Derek glared at the Fae. Stiles glanced at Derek with a shrug. “Well… if it’s for the fate of the world.” 

No. No way in hell. 

The tall Fae smiled, “who better to help save us all than a magic wielding police officer, and his werewolf mate?” 

Derek growled low in his throat. 

“Guys,” Stiles said, “are you really sure you need our help with-?”

“If you catch her, we will forever be in your debt. If your attempt fails, we will still consider you our allies.” 

“Fine.” Stiles said. Derek snapped his head over to him in disbelief. “Look, we’ll try to help but it’s no guarantee. If we can’t find her in a week, you’ll bring us back here. No bad blood between us.” 

“Agreed.” The Fae said in unison. They lifted their hands with the same blinding white light Derek had seen them try last time. 

“Woah, wait! Hold up!” Stiles cried. 

The lights stopped. 

“Let me talk to my partner here for a minute. Maybe call my Dad. Then we still need to pack things, we can’t just leave immediately!” 

“You will not be able to bring anything with you. They will be lost in the transfer.” 

Derek glared at Stiles. Stiles waved a hand like this didn’t matter, “okay, fine. We still need a minute here.” 

“We grant you ten. Then we leave.” The shorter Fae said. Stiles nodded, grabbing at Derek’s arm and dragging him away a few feet. 

Like that would make a difference. 

“Stiles. No.” Derek growled out, folding his arms over his chest. 

“Okay, you keep saying that, but we both know you aren’t going to let me go alone, and we also both know I’m going if the _ fate of the world _ is in danger. Which, by the way, you should care about too. Since you’re a cop and all that.” Stiles smacked him on the chest, giving him a disapproving look.

“We don’t know the fate of the world is in danger. We don’t even know if this is where Jennifer went! She could have zapped herself to Spain for all we know.” 

“She didn’t. Spain is way too far away, magic transfers don’t work that way.” 

Derek rolled his eyes, “that is not the point. I don’t trust them. We aren’t going.” 

“I trust them. I’m going.” Stiles stared at him with determination. Derek was used to Stiles talking back, but not like this… this was something new. He had never flatout disagreed with Derek before. 

Derek kind of liked it. 

“Are you coming with me, or not?” 

Derek sighed, “yes, of course I’m coming.” 

“Good. That wasted like five minutes, I have to call my dad and update him before we get zapped away.” Stiles was already pulling out his phone, taking a step away from Derek to call the Sheriff. 

Again, Stiles really liked the illusion of privacy. 

Derek glared at the Fae while Stiles spoke to his father. The man sounded resigned, but he also agreed this was the right thing to do. Human problem, human solution. Supernatural bullshit mixed in with it all. 

He told them he could explain a week away for them both, especially considering they had just finished a case they weren’t even on. Stiles would need to work overtime when he got back though, to make up for it. 

Derek wouldn’t need to work overtime though. Derek had sick days.

When Stiles finished the call, the Fae immediately walked up to them, glowing hands high in the air. Derek grabbed for Stiles hand - he didn’t want to lose him in the transfer. 

The last thing he felt before the whole world went weightlessly white, was Stiles hand squeezing his right back. 

\-- 

They arrived into the city of the Fae only five minutes later. The sun was still high in the sky, although now covered by large leaved trees. Stiles could see it from wherever he was lying now. The silence of the forest was replaced with the noises of a city, people walking by, shouting, children’s laughter... Cars? 

Stiles had tried to research the city where the Fae lived before. There was no information on it. He’d guessed it was somewhere in Russia, but maybe that was different. Maybe there were different Fae cities all over the Earth.

He thought he would have noticed a afar city near Beacon Hills though. 

Stiles lifted his head, groaning when a sharp pain split through his forehead. Fuck. Transfers were hard on the body. 

Standing, Stiles finally took in the rest of his surroundings. He and Derek were lying on small matts on top of what looked like bark. In one direction was a giant wall, also made out of bark, in the other directions were giant fern like plants. Maybe the door to this room was behind a fern? …and the room didn’t have a ceiling? 

Derek was still asleep. 

The Fae were nearby, talking to other Fae Stiles’ hadn’t met yet. It took him a second to realize that they were naked, and the Fae were supplying Oscar and Big Bird with more clothes. 

He let out an undignified squeak when he realized he was naked too. 

“Excellent, you are awake,” Big Bird said, walking over with a pile of clothes in his arms. “Here is some clothing for you and your mate. You lost yours in the transfer.” 

Stiles frowned, accepting the bundle and holding the cloth in front of himself as a shield. “Why? I’ve never read anything about losing clothing in magic transfers. I could understand not bringing bags, but this...” 

Big Bird smiled gently, “your clothing would not longer fit you. You are far too small now.” 

“Too small..?” Stiles looked at the Fae. He looked down at himself. He didn’t look any smaller than he had before. 

Then it dawned on him.

He looked around the room again with new eyes. The big leaves blocking the sun. The ferns. The  _ wall of bark _ . 

“Where are we?” Stiles asked, voice high pitched. 

“We are in our city in the trees. You should feel honoured to be welcomed here, we have not had a visitor in 400 years.” 

“The city in the.. The city _ in the trees _ .” Stiles felt light headed now. “Where is the city? What trees?” 

Big Bird smiled again. “Deep within the forest of what you call the preserve. That is where our trees are hidden.” 

“City in the trees. In our preserve.” Stiles dropped the clothes and ran for the nearest fern. When he reached it though, his suspicions were confirmed. 

This wasn’t a fucking fern. This was a leaf! He pushed past it and almost fainted at the sight. 

There it was. The preserve. They had not gone far in distance, but they sure as hell wouldn’t be found now if someone came looking. 

Because they were now about 5 inches tall! 

“You shrunk us down?!” Stiles shreaked, running back towards the Fae. “You didn’t think to mention that part when we agreed to this deal?” 

“We are forbidden to discuss it with outsiders. It is how we stay hidden from the world.” 

“You’re all just tiny little Fae living in  _ actual fucking trees _ ?!” 

Big Bird nodded, “we use our magic to manipulate the size of ourselves and the world around us. The trees are larger than they once were, and the half dozen we live inside of house our entire community.” 

Stiles rubbed his forehead, processing this information. “I’m the first human here in 400 years. I’m 5 inches tall. And I now have to find a woman who is also 5 inches tall and hiding somewhere in one of these 2 trees. Is that about right?” 

“Although I am not entirely sure how tall an inch is, that sounds mostly correct. Your only error is that there are 7 trees, not 2.” 

Stiles nodded, feeling dazed. He glanced around at the giant leaves and the floor made of bark. Eventually his eyes landed on the still sleeping form of Derek. 

Oh shit. 

“Derek’s going to kill me.” 

\-- 

Derek was taking everything… surprisingly well. 

When he had first woken up, Stiles had explained as gently as possible that they were now about the size of baby squirrels, and they would be living inside of trees for the next few days. 

Derek had stared at him in silence for 5 minutes before looking around himself and nodding slowly… honestly, he had taken the news much better than Stiles had. 

Next Derek and Stiles were told that Derek was not... Entirely welcome here. Big Bird and Oscar had invited him along because of Stiles, but the rest of the Fae did not approve of the plan. Fae did not like, or trust, werewolves. Derek would not be allowed to wander around by himself. He would not be allowed to speak to anyone by himself. He would need to stay close to his mate at all times if he wished to stay here. 

Again, Derek took this news as a champ. He had actually been the one who pulled Stiles back when Stiles started arguing about racism, or speciesism, or whatever fucked up shit that they were pulling- but, again, he had pulled Stiles back and said it was fine. They would be spending all of their time together anyway. 

Stiles still thought it was bullshit. 

The Fae reassured them that Derek would be fine as long as Stiles acted like a supportive and caring mate. Mates were sacred in their culture, and Derek being Stiles mate was more important to them than Derek being a werewolf.

This news had just made Stiles feel even worse, because Derek was not his mate. He was not even his boyfriend. Not only had Stiles snuck in a werewolf, he was also defiling something sacred to them. Stiles held back his grimace though, because the Fae did not need to know any of that. 

From the carefully blank look on Derek’s face, he obviously felt bad about all of this too. 

\-- 

The Fae showed them to their rooms, a tiny little one bedroom apartment carved into the bark of the tree. There was no electricity, but there were magic orbs of light in every room that dimed when you turned them. 

There was also somehow running water... Stiles had no idea how that worked. 

There was some food in what Stiles assumed was the kitchen, but he ignored it for now. He couldn’t tell what it was, and he was afraid it was some sort of insect. 

Derek looked mortified when he saw there was only one bed. Stiles ignored that too. Derek was allowed to have his feelings about all this. 

The Fae came by and dropped off more essentials they would need. Clothes, very similar to their own design, but made of silky cloth. Stiles laughed when he pulled on the pants that looked like jeans, but felt like pajamas. 

The Fae also dropped off maps of the city. As well as crystals, candles, and a bag full of magical items Stiles could use to track down Blake. 

Derek scowled at that as well, and Stiles had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes. Derek could attempt to find Jennifer the old fashioned way if he wanted to, but Stiles would resort to magic when they needed it. 

And he had a feeling that in a place like this, they would definitely need it. 

\-- 

“Jennifer is looking for their powersource. Big Bird said it was in the roots of the tree 4th tree, the one farthest from us, surrounded by guards. They didn’t say what it was, but I have a feeling it’s some sort of shiny forest magic jewel that gives off energy.” Stiles said, pointing out the tree on the map with wiggling fingers. 

“Big Bird?” Derek asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

Stiles blushed, “uh, the taller Fae. I’ve named them Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch cause, you know, size and colour and.. Unknown gender identities.” 

Derek snorted. He didn’t say anything else, so Stiles continued. 

“Anyway, Big Bird said Jennifer was first spotted here,” he circled another tree on the map with chalk, “but she’s also been seen at these locations.” He made x’s over tiny spots on three trees. “This leaves me to believe she has no idea where the jewel is, so we have a good chance to catch her before she finds it.” 

Derek nodded, “okay. I was there when the Fae told us all of this, why are you repeating it back to me now?” 

Stiles waved his hands around, “I’m doing a recap as I set up the map! That’s what they do on cop shows all the time. I thought you would join in and finish off what I was saying like they do in the shows.” 

Derek gave him a pained look, “Stiles, this isn’t a TV show. Or a game. Please, start taking this seriously.” 

Stiles flushed. Fuck, right. He needed to stop acting like a child if he wanted Derek to stop seeing him like a child. “Right, sorry.” 

“It’s fine. Let’s go to this spots and ask around for what they saw. How she acted. If she’s taken anything while she’s been here.” 

Stiles nodded. “Alright. Let’s go.” 

Derek nodded, heading for the door as Stiles rolled up the map to take with them. A part of him wanted to point out that they were totally using the map that Stiles had set up, like they do in TV shows, and that it was totally being useful now. 

But that would have been childish, and he wasn’t being childish anymore. 

\-- 

Talking to the average Fae citizen was.. Challenging. To say the least. 

They refused to talk to, or even sometimes look at, Derek, so Stiles was forced to do all the talking. Which was difficult, since Derek was actually the one with all the best questions. 

When they did willingly talk to them, all that was talked about was the relationship between the two of them, and how nice it was that they had found their mate so young. Stiles felt bad for lying, sure, but nothing compared to how Derek was reacting. 

Derek looked more sour with every mention of mate, and he avoided the topic at all costs. 

Oscar came by for an update halfway through, and was disappointed when they told him they hadn’t found out much. He then insisted that the two of them hold hands, or at least touch, when walking around outside together. Apparently some of the Fae were questioning the mate bond between them. 

Stiles laughed awkwardly and slipped his hand into Derek’s. He felt Derek’s arm quiver beside his, like he was barely restraining himself from ripping his arm back and running away from Stiles. 

Was it really that bad to pretend to be mated to him? It had only been a few hours, and Derek was acting like it was the end of the world! 

Stiles ignored it, smiling tightly as Oscar looked at their joined hands dubiously. They probably didn’t look like the most ‘in love’ couple around, but god dammit they looked like a couple at least! 

It only got worse after that. 

The Fae talked to them more, but again, always brought up the mate thing. Derek was stiff under Stiles hands, and full on shoved Stiles arm off when Stiles tried to go for the casual arm over the shoulder look instead of the hand holding. 

The two of them didn’t say a word to each other after their last witness appeared to be as useless as all those before them. Nothing had come out of the day, and they had no more leads to follow. Derek’s hand was practically a brick in Stiles hold, and he stormed to the bathroom as soon as they arrived back at their apartment. 

Stiles sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. He knew Derek didn’t see him that way, but did Derek have to be so.. Blatant about it all? It stung, to know that Derek couldn’t even pretend to like him. 

Actually.. It was more than a sting. It burned. It tore right at his heart, and Stiles wasn’t sure if he could go another day like that without saying anything. 

\-- 

Stiles was munching on the strange food and looking through the magic bag when Derek finally came back out. He looked a little less grumpy, but still pretty pissed off. 

His eyebrows only grew angrier when he saw what Stiles was doing. 

“No.” 

Stiles sighed, pushing a crystal back into the bag. “Derek, it would be easy to find her if I used-” 

“I said no, Stiles! You’re not going to attempt to do a location spell we both know you won’t be able to pull off. I’m exhausted enough looking after you here as it is, I don’t need you to be magically drained, or possibly injured, on top of all of it!” Derek said. He sounded furious, and he waved his arm at the end of his little speech in a move that clearly meant he was fed up even talking about magic. 

Stiles just stared at him. “What?” 

“You heard me.” 

“Yeah but.. What?” Stiles shook his head. “Magically drained from a  _ location _ spell? And what the hell do you mean, I  _ already _ exhaust you? What the hell have I even done today!?” 

Derek pinched his nose, “I don’t mean you exhaust me. I mean- this situation.” He looked up at Stiles again, still frowning. “Being called your mate all the time, it‘s- it-“ Derek growled in frustration and turned away. “I don’t like it. And yes, Stiles, being drained by a location spell. If Deaton can’t pull one off, you won’t be able to either, right? So… can we call it a night and not argue about this?” 

Stiles stared, speechless, as Derek stood there and called him weak. He had known that Derek always avoided the topic of Stiles magic, and always got awkward when Stiles tried to show him things, but… Stiles never understood why. 

And now here Derek stood, assuming he knew what Stiles was capable of? 

Well fuck that.

He lifted his hand carefully, eyes on Derek. “That’s what you really think? That I can’t do a location spell?” 

“Stiles, I know-“ 

Stiles didn’t let him finish. He flicked his wrist and had Derek pinned to the wall before he had the chance. 

Derek’s eyes widened in alarm when he discovered that he had not only been thrown against a wall, but he could now no longer move. His eyes moved between Stiles and the empty room. 

If Stiles was a wolf, he was sure he would be able to hear Derek’s heart beating rapidly right now. 

“Derek, let me make things clear for you. I. Am. A.  _ Fucking _ .  _ Mage _ .” With each word, Stiles sent a spike of air towards Derek, making him wince and proving Stiles point. “I have outranked Deaton since I was 15 years old. My training, which I have completed, by the way, was entirely reading books and discussing theory. Deaton didn’t  _ show _ me how to do magic. Once my spark started to grow, I was teaching myself!” 

Derek swallowed, “I- I didn’t know-“ 

“No. But you should have. If you had actually listened to me when I’ve been trying to tell you for the past 6 years!” 

“Stiles-“ 

“You think I’m a weakling?  _ Me _ ? I once demolished an entire building with my  _ mind _ !” 

“You can barely throw a punch!” 

Stiles threw his head back and laughed. It came out bitter and dark. “In the human world, sure. Without magic, my muscles don’t have much behind them. But I don’t need muscle to protect myself.” 

Derek leaned his head against the wall, somehow looking even more alarmed than before. 

“I can honestly not believe you still think of me as a young little kid. Newsflash, Derek, we have the same job! We have the same amount of education! We have the same friends, hell, we practically have the same family! I may still live with my dad, but you live with your sister. And I know for a fact that she does your laundry!” Stiles took in a breath when he realized he was shouting. 

The room was quiet, but Stiles could hear a buzzing inside his head. 

“Just tell me, Derek, why? Why were you oblivious of my power? Why do you still see me as that scared little kid? Why can’t you see that this is me!” Stiles flicked his wrist again and Derek floated off the wall to land heavily on the floor. Stiles watched as Derek stood up, and looked guiltily at Stiles. 

“I don’t see you as a kid,” Derek said, crossing his arms in front of him on a clear defensive posture. “I haven’t… I haven’t seen you as a kid in years.” 

Stiles scoffed, “Then why do you always treat me like I’m an idiot who can’t take care of myself?” 

“I don’t-“ Derek cut himself off after Stiles lifted his brows. “Okay… maybe I do, but I just… I want to keep you safe. I  _ need _ to keep you safe.” 

Stiles rolled his eyes, “I can keep myself safe.” 

“Well, I didn’t know how true that was until… now.” Derek grimaced. Stiles laughed. 

“Right, and whose fault was that? What did you think I was doing with Deaton this whole fucking time, playing with mountain ash? I did that my first week.” 

Derek winced, “I know.” That gave Stiles pause. Derek looked pained as he sighed and continued, “I came to watch you, your third day with Deaton. You made a mountain ash barrier around a table and I… I went outside and had a panic attack.” 

Stiles blinked, “I didn’t know that… that was the only time you came with me but I never knew why. Derek-“ 

“Of course you didn’t know,” Derek huffed, running a hand through his hair in the way he did when he was feeling self conscious. “You were 11, and your mom had just died. You weren’t really able to think of someone else’s trauma back then.” 

Stiles felt a wave of guilt wash over him, “Derek-“ 

“Kate surrounded my family home in mountain ash and lit it on fire. And it was my fault- don’t say it wasn’t, I’ve already heard it enough from my therapist, but it’s true. I helped her. But the next day…” Derek looked up and gave Stiles a pleading look. “I met you. And I saved you. And I… you needed me, and I needed you to need me. So I’m sorry I couldn’t watch you practice magic without panicking. I’m sorry I treat you differently. But you have to understand, Stiles, I  _ have _ to keep you safe. Because you keep me sane.” 

Stiles took in a shaky breath. All these years later, and Stiles had never considered what Derek had gone through those first few months they had known each other. He’d been so buried in his own grief, he hadn’t even thought about how Derek had clung to him just as much as Stiles always held onto Derek. He’d never considered why. 

“I guess we both missed something,” Stiles finally said, breaking the silence. Derek snorted, and shook his head fondly. Stiles felt something loosen in his chest at the familiar gesture. “Uh, we have a potential world ending problem on our hands right now, but… maybe we could talk more? After this? Cause I think that’s the most you’ve ever said at once, and I want to hear you do it again.” 

Derek gave him a small smile, “Yeah. I think that’d be a good idea.” 

“Okay,” Stiles smiled back at him, caught in the moment for a second, before he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Anyway, I have a location spell I could do now. If that’s alright with you.” 

Derek nodded, “of course.” 

“Okay,” He turned his back on Derek, walking towards the table and summoning what he would need for a location spell with a wave of his hand. He lit the candles with a snap of his fingers, and rolled the crystal over the map - shutting his eyes to picture Jennifer Blake. 

The crystal halted in its tracks, pinpointing where Jennifer was at that moment. Stiles marked the place, shoving the map in his pocket and moving toward the front door. 

“Stiles - wait, I didn’t realize it would be that fast!” 

Stiles stopped, turning around with a laugh so the wolf could catch up. 

“Try to keep up, Sourwolf. We’re just getting started.” 

\--

Derek ran. He followed Stiles, hoping he would be able to have Stiles back when they found the witch. From what Derek was starting to understand, this was a battle of magic, not strength. Stiles would be facing Blake alone, and no matter how powerful he was, Derek couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to him. 

He hoped he would be able to do something to help. 

They took a sharp turn up on one of the upper branches, following the bridge that lead to the next tree over. He was glad that Stiles was one of the only non-Fae creatures in the city, it made him incredibly easy to follow. 

On the other side, they raced down the staircase carved into the base of the tree. They ran across a few branches, ran through a hollowed out section that looked like a market square. Down one more level, Derek turned and spotted her. A woman dressed in mismatched robes, probably ones she had stolen from the Fae. They would not have given her any willingly. 

She shot a steak of lighting at them, and Derek jumped back in surprise. 

Stiles didn’t. Stiles ran forward, glowing a brilliant blue and wielding a pillar of light like a spear.

The hollowed out room was large, but Blake were the only one here. There was a large gap between them, and her and Stiles were now circling each other slowly. 

Derek watched from the sidelines as they took shots at each other. His frowned in concern every time a shot got too close to Stiles. He wished he could get close enough to help. He wished he at least he had his gun, so he could join the shoot off. 

He was useless over here. 

There were blackened marks on the walls and the floor. Magical blows that had not met their mark. Jennifer was panting, her shirt torn and blood seeping down her face. Stiles’ shirt was torn as well, from a blast he’d dodged a hair too slowly. He had a scratch on his chest from that blast, but otherwise he was fine. Steady and calm… smiling. 

Stiles side stepped a bolt of lighting Jennifer sent his way, and sent back a blast of light without even breaking stride. Stiles steps were measured and concise, whereas Jennifer was tripping every few feet, and looked like she was about to fall over. 

Derek let out a laugh when he realized that Stiles was not only fighting Blake by himself, Stiles was fucking  _ winning _ . 

Two sets of eyes turned toward him, and Derek swallowed down his next laugh. He let out his claws and snarled at Jennifer, loping around to stand behind her as Stiles attacked from the front.

Jennifer stopped walking though, and let out a laugh of her own. She turned back to Stiles as if Derek wasn’t even a threat. “You brought a werewolf to the Fae’s city?” 

Stiles didn’t respond, throwing another blast of light towards her instead. Blake stepped to the side to dodge it, barely. It missed her chest, but singed the skin of her arm. Derek could smell the skin burning. 

“How selfish are you, young mage, to bring a werewolf to the one place they are hated the most?” Blake sneered, throwing a ball that burst into a cloud of dust at Derek’s feet. 

Derek squeezed his eyes shut against the sting the cloud brought with it, trying to step away while still listening to the fight. 

“No!” Stiles cried. A flash of light behind Derek’s eyelids showed Stiles had attacked again. Jennifer’s mocking laugh probably meant he had missed. 

“You are a selfish, impudent, child. Stay out of my way!” Another flash, this time followed by a groan. Fuck, that was Stiles groaning. Derek darted towards the sound, waving his hands in front of his face. 

Two loud bangs went off at once, and then nothing but the sound of Stiles cursing. 

“Stiles?!” Derek called, trying to follow his scent but smelling nothing but onions. “Stiles, where-” 

A hand grabbed his, dragging him in the opposite direction. Derek clung on to the callused hands he knew so well. 

A short while later, they came to a stop. “Hold still, big guy, this is going to be cold.” 

Derek did what he was told, holding back a flinch when water fell across his face. His eyes no longer stung, and the smell of onions no longer clung to his nose. He blinked his eyes open with relief. 

“Thanks.” 

Stiles shrugged, shoving a sack of water back into a pocket. Derek watched it disappear, wondering if all of Stiles pockets were magically enlarged like that. Next he pulled out a cloth. Derek watched as Stiles ran a hand over the cut on his chest, and then wiped away the blood to show healthy skin underneath. Stiles had healed himself. 

Derek remembered seeing Stiles do something similar with the Fae princess’s arm. Derek groaned, “Fae can’t heal themselves like wolves can, can they?” 

Stiles shook his head, looking at him in confusion. Derek sighed and ran a hand over his face. Just one more thing he had assumed Stiles had not been able to do, even when it was right in front of his face. 

“You okay?” 

Derek looked back up to see Stiles concerned face. Derek almost laughed. 

“Are  _ you _ okay?” 

Stiles rolled his eyes, “I’m fine, she’s not very strong. Next time we track her down I’ll get her.” 

“I want to help more next time.” 

Stiles sighed, but Derek grabbed his arm before he could overthink anything. 

“I know. I know now, at least, that you don’t need my help. But I want to help you. You’re my Stiles. I’ll always want to help you. No matter how badass you are.” 

Stiles stared at him, his eyes roaming Derek’s face searching for something. Derek let him stare. The knot in his chest loosened only when Stiles features finally softened, and a small smile spread across his face. 

“I’m your Stiles, eh?” 

Derek felt himself blush. He didn’t take it back though. 

\-- 

When they went to bed that night, Derek didn’t immediately turn to face the wall with a scowl. This time, they lay facing each other. Neither of them said anything, but Derek felt like something had changed between them… something important. 

He never thought this would happen. His heart is aching, he wants to reach out. To touch. But he still isn’t entirely sure what Stiles is thinking in all this. 

He’s too scared to take the next step. 

“I was stupid. I get so angry when someone calls me selfish.” Stiles whispered, breaking the silence in the darkness between them. 

_ Don’t be selfish, Mischief. You know we don’t like it when you’re selfish. _

Derek knew too well the words Stiles mother had used to keep him alone in the motel for four days. He had saved the boy in the end, but those days were something that could never be erased.

Derek felt the familiar urge to wrap Stiles up and shield him from the world… but he pushed it down. Stiles was old enough to face the world. He was definitely old enough to face his past. 

They both were. 

“You have good reason to be… triggered, by that word. But you know your not selfish, Stiles. You're the least selfish person I know.” He let that sink in before he took a breath and said his next words. Stiles hated talking about his mother.“Your mother was not in the right state of mind when she took you to that motel.” 

The scent of salt hit the air, and Derek knew that meant Stiles was crying. He whined softly in sympathy. 

“I know,” Stiles said with a sniff. “It was the disease that hurt me, not my mom. My mother loved me. My mother did not want to kill me. It was the disease.” 

“Um, right.” Derek nodded, surprised by the mantra. 

“Sorry, my therapist helped me make that phrase for whenever I’m doubting how my mom really felt about me.. Sometimes it’s.. Hard. Considering the last solid memories I have of her are of her trying to kill me.” 

“That’s great, Stiles,” Derek smiled at him encouragingly, “I didn’t know you had a therapist.” 

Stiles blinked at him in confusion. “I told you about her. Heather.” 

“Heather’s a therapist?” 

Stiles had been talking about Heather for years, nearly as long as they had known each other. 

“Who did you think she was?” 

“I don’t know, a school friend? All you ever said was ‘Heather said this’ or ‘Heather said that’, I thought she was a smart kid, but not a therapist!” 

Stiles laughed, wiping the tears and snot off his face with a blanket. “I guess you’ve been misinterpreting everything I’ve ever told you.” 

Derek watched his boy, his young man, pull himself together and smile at Derek through the dark. He was beautiful. 

“Yeah.” Derek whispered back, tentatively reaching forward and wiping away one last stray tear. Stiles leaned into his touch, and Derek’s breath caught in his throat. 

Was this one more thing he’d been blind to? Did Stiles… did Stiles feel the same about him? 

Was Derek oblivious to it all?

“I’m going to start listening.” He promised. Stiles laughed. 

\-- 

Derek woke up with something warm cradled in his arms. It took him less than a second to realize it was Stiles. 

His eyes snapped open. Stiles was curled against him, his face smashed against Derek’s chest. Derek had both arms wrapped around him, while Stiles had one arm thrown over Derek’s stomach, his other squished underneath him somewhere. 

Derek smiled at Stiles little muffled snores. This was adorable. 

Derek watched Stiles turn his face farther into Derek’s chest. He was still sound asleep… this gave him a minute to look over Stiles in a way he never had before. Derek’s eyes traveled down Stiles body, eyeing the round ass at the top of his long legs. Derek had been fantasizing about having those legs wrapped around his waist for the better part of three years. And now they were thrown over Derek’s hip, in a way that Derek could almost picture himself turning into, holding Stiles close and- 

Something low in his belly warmed at that idea, and Derek shoved that thought down before something popped up and woke Stiles up with a poke to his thigh. 

Stiles moaned against his chest before lifting his head and squinting up at him. “Oh. Sorry, dude, didn’t mean to squish you like that.” He rolled away, leaving Derek cold and alone on the bed. 

“You okay?” Stiles asked as he made his way to the bathroom. 

“I’m great.” Derek said, hoping his face was not as beet red as it felt. 

\-- 

Stiles huffed as the crystal once again rolled uselessly off the map. It was official, “Blake has blocked me… or she’s left the city. Which I doubt, since no one’s mentioned that the world has ended and we missed it.” 

Derek snorted behind him. Stiles face planted onto the table. “What are we going to dooo?” 

“Hey, we found her once without magic. We’ll find her again.” 

“I doubt Barry’s going to give us a call and lead us right to her house again.” 

Derek snorted again… he was doing that a lot today. Stiles sat up and turned around, catching Derek smiling at him. “You’re in a good mood.” 

Derek, to Stiles shock, blushed. “I, uh, had a good sleep.” 

Stiles heart started to flutter in his chest, “Yeah?”

Derek nodded, a soft smile growing on his lips. “Yeah.” 

Stiles heart started to flutter overtime, and there was nothing Stiles could do to stop it. From the way Derek’s eyes flickered from Stiles face down to his chest, Derek took notice. 

Stiles looked away before he started to blush too. “So, uh, where should we start? With the.. Detective work?” 

Derek stepped towards him, he didn’t stop until his whole body was flush with Stiles back. He leaned forward, pointing down at the map. Stiles turned around, feeling Derek’s heat against him, flushing when Derek began speaking directly into Stiles ear. “This is where she was last night?” 

Stiles could barely hear him over his own pounding heart. Holy crap. Derek and he had always shared casual touches before but this was… this was like... This was different! 

“Y-yeah.” 

“We’ll start there. Hopefully that onion cloud didn’t mask her scent entirely.” 

“Right. Yeah… hopefully.” Stiles stuttered out. 

He expected Derek to move then, because they had a point to start from, but he didn’t. He stayed exactly where he was. Stiles looked up at him, expecting Derek’s eyes to still be on the map - but they weren’t. Derek was staring right back at him and his eyes looked - 

“Hello, young mage and wolf!” Big Bird and Oscar came waltzing into the room. Derek jumped back, rather far actually, like a solid two feet, while Stiles dove forward and awkwardly slouched against the table. It was worse than when his dad had walked in on them a few days ago. 

Stiles really considered looking for a spell that would keep people out. The tension between him and Derek was getting ridiculous. 

Big Bird looked between them with amusement, “no need to hide your relationship from us, my friends, we are well aware of it.” 

“Right, sorry. Uh, habit?” Stiles said, standing up and running a hand through his hair. He glanced at Derek, but Derek was having some sort of weird staring eye contest with Oscar. 

“What’s up, guys?” 

“We heard about your dual with the witch last night. While it is disappointing she got away, we were happy to hear you were very nearly successful!” 

Stiles nodded, “thanks.” 

“We are also happy to inform you that she has not been sighted since, and that our energy source is still untouched.” 

“Good. We still have time.” Derek said, finally turning away from the Grouch. 

“We brought more resources for your spells,” Oscar placed a bag on the floor beside the door. “Please let us know if there is anything else you need in apprehending the witch.” 

With that, Big Bird left with a smile and Oscar left with a grumbled goodbye. By this point, Stiles didn’t even want to know their names, he didn’t think anything else would fit them as perfectly. 

Stiles moved to grab the bag as soon as they were gone, he sighed in disappointment when it was more of the same jewels and gems and candles that he had found in the last bag. 

“What’s wrong?” Derek asked. 

“Nothing.” Derek gave him a dubious look, so Stiles smiled at him and explained, “I just don’t use these things in my magic. I use herbs. Potions. The dirt of sacred lands and water from ancient oceans. These are more.. Fae magic things.” 

Derek hummed like he had understood any of that. “Maybe you could combine your methods with the resources they gave you?” 

Stiles tilted his head. That wasn’t a bad idea. He looked into the bag again, trying to see from a different perspective… no new ideas jumped to mind. 

He groaned, flopping down into a chair and dropping the bag back onto the floor. “Maybe you were right. This was a dumb idea, we should never have come.” 

“Hey,” Derek took a few short steps, then crouched in front of him. He gave Stiles knee a squeeze. “You have been amazing here, you got that? I didn’t know how great at magic you were when we made this deal, but now that I do I can see why we came. You out match Blake in every way. We’re going to get her, Stiles.” 

“Derek,” Stiles shook his head at the man, “just last night you were calling me weak. Forgive me if I don’t quite believe you right now.” 

“Yesterday I was an idiot,” Derek said fiercely, “I was blinded by my own stupid ideas that you were someone who was weak and in need of protection. You’re not, Stiles. You’re strong, and amazing, and...and I-I really care about you. You can do this.” 

Stiles searched his face, looking for any sign of mockery or pity. He didn’t find it though… Derek truly believed he was strong enough to do this. The thought made Stiles think that.. That maybe he could do this. With Derek. 

“Thanks. I care about you too.” 

Derek smiled up at him, and Stiles smiled in return. It was a lovely moment before Derek went and ruined it. 

“I know.” 

Stiles laughed, and Derek was quick to join him. Stiles felt the tension between them melt away as they leaned against each other. They still needed to talk, Stiles knew, but it could wait. At least now they both seemed to know something had changed between them. 

And who knew that would have ever happened. Apparently, everything could change for the better after all. 

Wait a minute. Stiles sat up, an idea coming to mind. 

“Stiles?” Derek asked, his smile slipping off his face when he saw how serious Stiles was. 

“Everything can change.” 

“What?” 

“I have an idea.” 

\-- 

Now that they had a plan, and a new magically made necklace, all they had to do was find Jennifer. Stiles trailed behind Derek as he sniffed around the marketplace, eyes roaming from the wolf's sniffing nose, to his broad shoulders, to his nice ass whenever he leaned over for a better sniff. 

Like he could feel Stiles' eyes on him, Derek turned around, sending him a brilliant smile - Stiles smiled back, his heart fluttering in his chest. Derek’s eyes flickered between Stiles smile and Stiles chest, and suddenly his smile grew even wider. 

Stiles didn’t know if he could take it. 

He looked away, pretending to focus on something on the completely empty floor. When he finally glanced back up, Derek was back to sniffing around… this time though, he looked strangely smug while doing it. 

Stiles couldn’t wait till this case was over, and they could finally talk. 

\-- 

The smiling thing kept happening. All day, Stiles and Derek would smile at each other until Stiles would get flustered enough to look away. Every time Derek’s eyes would flicker between Stiles face and Stiles chest. 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out Derek was listening to his heart. 

Stiles wished he could do the same, to know what Derek was feeling. But from the way Derek’s ears kept turning pink, or his smile kept turning gleeful, Stiles had a feeling he was feeling the same thing. 

For the first time in years, it felt like they were on the same page. 

They didn’t have time to deal with this now though. Jennifer was still out there, and there were no sightings or scent trails to follow. They were stuck. 

He decided to go talk to the Sesame Street duo, hoping they had more information than this morning. Derek followed him, but stopped outside the door to the Fae’s office. 

“They’ll tell you more if I’m not with you. They don’t like me.” 

“That’s not true. They totally like you!” Derek gave him a deadpan stare. “Okay, maybe stay out here. I’ll be out soon!” 

Stiles hurried into the room before they could do the weird smile thing again. He heard Derek snort behind him. 

Stiles shook his head. Trying to clear his head of thoughts of Derek while he was talking to the Fae about the case.

He did not succeed. 

\-- 

Derek leaned against the wall, listening as Stiles laughed with the Fae. He smiled as Stiles heartbeat did a little jump when one of the Fae asked about Derek. Stiles heart had been doing little jumps like that all day when it was about him. 

The day had been enlightening. 

Derek had thought that Stiles had only ever thought of him as a friend. Or as an older brother. But today, his heart had gone wild every time Derek had smiled at him. He’d smelled like  _ want _ when Derek had leaned over him. 

It was the same that Derek felt for Stiles. 

Stiles hadn’t only smelled like arousal when Derek leaned against him… he had smelled like excitement, affection… love? 

Derek had been blown away by that. And all day now, they’ve been smiling at each other with big goofy grins. Siles heartbeat kept jumping from 0 to 60 everytime they looked at each other - Derek didn’t know what to do. He wanted to step into Stiles space, reassure him with his lips. But they were working a case and… and he was still scared. 

Scared of what this meant for their friendship. 

  
  


Was this all happening a little fast? Would a relationship between them be a bit… weird? He had known Stiles since he was 11, since he was a child. They had been practically co dependent when they were teenagers. Would it be wrong to want to date him now? 

Derek didn’t know. 

“Hello there, mister.” A silky voice pulled Derek out of his thoughts. His eyes jumped down the hall in alarm, he hadn’t heard anyone approaching. 

Jennifer walked towards him, her hand trailing the wall in what Derek was sure was meant to look seductive. To him she just looked like she was trying not to fall over. 

“What are you doing up here all alone? Did your magic guard abandon you?” Jennifer asked, giving him a pouty smile. 

Derek wanted to snarl at her, but he knew better. The perp was talking, distracting herself, really, buying him time until Stiles came back out. 

Should be any minute now.

“Stiles needed some space.” Derek lied, inwardly smirking when Blakes smile grew wider. 

“He left you here all alone? In a place where they hate your kind? I would never do that to you.” 

Jennifer was close enough now to rub a hand up his chest. Derek forced himself not to flinch at the touch. 

“It would be nice to have a partner that didn’t abandon me.” 

Blake nodded, “maybe we could help each other? I know in the human world your a cop, but this isn’t the human world. People like us don’t belong in the human world. We could have everything, all you need to do is help me push past a few guards.” 

Clearly the woman was desperate if she was attempting to seduce a  _ deputy _ into attacking guards for her. Derek made his face look conflicted though, like he was seriously considering her offer. 

“What about Stiles?” He asked, because he was expected to. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door open and Stiles head pop out. Stiles' eyes widened in alarm, he opened his mouth to say something but Derek shook his head the barest amount. Stiles shut his mouth, eyes narrowing as he took in the sight. 

Derek moved his hands up to grab Blake’s arms, trying to make it look like a caress. He hoped he could hold her long enough for Stiles to get the necklace on her. 

“Stiles will be fine. We’ll leave him here with the Fae, while we go conquer the world. Together.” 

She stepped closer, her full attention on Derek’s eyes - giving Stiles the perfect opportunity to slip the necklace around her neck. 

“What the-?” Jennifer reeled back, raising her hands up and thrusting then in the air. 

Nothing happened.

Blake snarled, Stiles laughed. “Can’t use magic with that around your neck.” 

Jennifer turned on him, her eyes blazing with anger. Derek grabbed her arms before she could make a move. 

“Shows over, Jennifer. You’re under arrest for attempted robbery, and the kidnapping and assault of the Fae princess.” 

“But - Dennis! Think about my offer, I could hand you the world on a silver platter, all you have to do is-“ 

“My name is Derek. And you have the right to remain silent, I suggest you take it.” 

Blake closed her mouth, but her eyes continued darting around, looking for an exit. 

“This is Blake?” 

Derek turned to see the shorter Fae standing beside Stiles. 

“Yeah. I carved some runes into the jewels you gave me, and then turned all of that into a necklace. She won’t be able to use magic when it’s on.” 

The Fae hummed, then nodded. “And if those markings were in her skin?” He asked.

Stiles looked between Jennifer and the Fae, he looked uncomfortable. “Then she wouldn’t be able to use magic. But isn’t that a bit..?” 

“We will handle this from here. Once we are finished, we will return her to the human world for you to deal with. You will be notified of the drop off via the shell.” 

“Umm-“ Stiles turned to Derek. “Is that allowed?” 

Derek sighed. The supernatural world didn’t really have rules for these things. “How long will it take?” 

“Unknown. Perhaps a day.” 

Derek nodded. He could talk the Sheriff into a day. 

“Very well, we will return you to your home now.” 

The short Fae took Jennifer out of Derek’s hands, handing her off to someone else behind him. Derek watched her go, feeling uneasy about leaving so soon. 

“We don’t mind waiting, if-“ 

“This is a Fae concern now.” A Fae spoke behind him. Derek swiveled his head, they were surrounded. “Go home, wolf. We thank you for your help.” 

“Speak into the shell if you are ever in need. We will help, allies.” 

“Okay,” Stiles said, “But maybe-“ 

But it was too late. Their hands were already glowing white. Derek grabbed for Stiles once again, holding on as everything whited out. 

—

Derek woke up with a groan. 

He glanced around him, happy to see a pile of clothes with his cellphone on top. Stiles was already partially dressed and focused on his phone. 

“That took us five days. Dad says to take the next two off, since he already got us both a week. That way we can bring in Jennifer without another cover story and also get used to being human sized again.” Stikes told him when he saw that Derek was awake. Derek nodded, reaching for the clothes beside him. 

They got ready in silence, then made their way out of the woods. Stiles kept glancing at him but not saying anything. 

Derek wasn’t sure what to say either. 

Was it wrong that he was disappointed? He had hoped he would have two more nights with Stiles. Now he has no excuse to sleep in the same bed as the man. 

“That was an interesting conversation you guys were having.” Stiles said, cutting through Derek’s thoughts. 

Derek looked at him in confusion, “what?” 

“You and Jennifer. That was a pretty sweet deal she was offering.” 

Oh. That. “I was only buying you time to get the necklace on her.” Derek shrugged. 

“Right.” Stiles still looked unsettled though, and now that Derek was paying attention he smelled off too. Sour. “Well, she is a beautiful woman. No one would blame you for considering…” 

“What?” Derek stopped walking, “you thought I was going to take her up on that? She’s crazy. She would probably kill me as soon as she had the chance.” 

Stiles stopped walking too, “yeah, well, you still would have gotten to be with her first. Wouldn’t a lot of men agree to something like that? Isn’t that like, the dream? Hot girl, power, money-“ 

“Stiles, what..” the smell wafting towards him suddenly clicked in his mind. The last time he’d smelled this was when he’d introduced Stiles to his last disastrous attempt at a girlfriend. “Oh my god, are you  _ jealous _ ?”

Stiles face turned tomato red, “ no!” 

“You are! You’re jealous of Jennifer!” 

“I am not! I just thought it was interesting!” Stiles turned and started walking towards the car again. He was walking so fast, some would call in a jog. 

Derek caught up with him easily. “Stiles, come on, I would never do anything with someone like Jennifer Blake. She was an evil witch!” 

“Right. And magic is the worst thing ever.” Stiles muttered darkly. 

“No, that’s not what I meant.” 

“Forget it. It was stupid to bring it up.” 

Derek growled under his breath. They were almost at the car, and this was not going nearly as well as he hoped. 

“I’m sorry!” He blurted out. 

Stiles slowed, glancing over at him. “For what?” 

“I didn’t mean to tease you. Or embarrass you. I was just surprised you thought I would ever do anything with Jennifer.” 

Stiles looked him over. “It’s fine.” 

“We’re fine?” Derek pushed. 

“Yeah,” Stiles shoved at his shoulder. “I shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. It was stupid.” 

Derek gently shoved him back, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t think it was stupid at all. In fact, he thought it was cute. 

They didn’t have the talk they had said they were going to have, Stiles still looked too wound up by the time Derek dropped him off at him. 

Derek took a steadying breath when Stiles didn’t do anything but wave and get out of the car. 

Tomorrow. Derek would come back tomorrow, and they would talk. 

  
  


—

Being alone was weird. Stiles hadn’t been alone for a few weeks now. He didn’t even have the shell listening in, since they decided to leave that in Derek’s car. 

His dad wasn’t home until 7, so Stiles spent the afternoon lounging around and updating his friends via text. He wondered what Derek was doing, and shoved that thought away. 

Derek was probably happy without him around to bug him. Especially since their last conversation had been about Stiles jealousy over Jennifer, of all things. Stiles wanted to hide shame every time he thought about it. 

It would be good to get some space. 

He started making dinner around 6, and had it laid out on the table by the time his dad walked in. The Sheriff gave him a big hug before sitting down, smiling at his son. 

Stiles smiled back, though he was a bit confused. 

“So? How’s it feel?” 

“Huh?” 

His dad rolled his eyes, “You just finished your first case! How’s it feel?”

Oh. Crap, he hasn’t even thought about that. “It feels.. cool.” Stiles finished lamely. 

“My first time was a thrill. All the adrenaline, chasing down the perp. Knowing you’ve made a difference. Doesn’t it feel amazing?” 

Stiles swallowed anxiously, he didn’t feel that at all. The only times during this case where he had felt remotely like he was making a difference was not doing police work, but organizing their mail and making a necklace with magic. 

Stikes felt a chill go down through him at his next thought. 

“Dad I uh… I think I’ve made a huge mistake.” 

—

Derek didn’t like his night alone. Scratch that, Derek hated his night alone. 

Cora was out with Isaac, leaving Derek home all by himself. He went out for a run, but that didn’t ease the tension in his chest. He tried to sleep, but he tossed and turned all night. 

He missed Stiles. 

The next day wasn’t much better, and Derek was looking forward to heading back to work. At least there he always had an excuse to talk to Stiles. Right now he kept picking up his phone, but then not know what to say. 

He chickened out going to talk to Stiles the next day. Stiles didn’t call him either. 

The shell came back to life the day before Derek was meant to head back into work. Derek decided to bring Jennifer in that afternoon instead of putting it off. He could spend a few hours doing her paperwork, and then head it a bit later the next morning. That should appease HR.

Blake was silent through the whole process. From the Fae drop off to the clink of her jail cell, the former witch didn’t utter a word. Derek wasn’t concerned, he doubted the Fae had muted her when they bound her powers. At least this way he didn’t have to talk to the woman. 

Filling out the paper didn’t take very long. Someone had organized all their paperwork, so now everything was clipped together in nice organized piles. All Derek had to do was fill it out in the highlighted areas. He knew it had been Stiles, Derek would have to thank him tomorrow when he saw him. 

The Sheriff was heading in as Derek was heading out, and Derek stepped into his office to talk to the man before he left.

“Stiles was great during this case. I thought it was too soon for him, but he proved me wrong. You should be proud.” 

The Sheriff looked at him like he had grown two heads. “Stiles was great?” 

“Yeah. It was his plan that ended up working. And he was brave enough to take Jennifer head on in a fight. Without him, she would probably still be out there.” 

John laughed, running a hand over his head. “I thought the reason he was quitting was because he didn’t like the violent side of things. But he was great? He could win in a fight?”

“Yeah, he was... wait what? Quitting?” Derek felt the tightness in his chest squeeze. Stiles couldn’t quit. 

“He said he’d made a horrible mistake, he chased after a person instead of his passion. Didn’t want to spend the rest of his life feeling like he could do better.” 

Derek’s blood ran cold. He had worried that Stiles came here for him, but to have it confirmed was unsettling. Add to that the knowledge that Stiles felt like Derek had ruined his life because of this? 

Fuck.

“I’ve got to go.” Derek said abruptly. 

John raised both his eyebrows, but didn’t comment. 

Derek left without another word. 

—

Derek was lying on the couch, having an internal crisis, when Cora got home that night. She gave one look at him before sighing exasperatedly. 

“God, what happened between you and Stiles now?” 

Derek glared at her. “How do you know it’s Stiles?” 

“Well, isn’t it?” 

Derek frowned. It was, but he didn’t want to tell her that. 

“Derek.” 

“He quit.” Derek said, looking down at his hands again. “He quit because of me.” 

Cora sat down beside him, looking concerned, “what happened?” 

“He said he had to follow his passion, not a person. He realized he made a mistake becoming a deputy, and now he’s going off to do something else… and I just…” Derek trailed off. He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about this. 

“Okay. That’s a good thing though, right? We were all thinking it. He’ll be happy doing something else.” 

Derek shrugged, she was probably right. 

“Derek, it’s not like you’re never going to see him again.” Cora chastised. 

“What if.. What if he realized it was a mistake to see me at all though? I thought he liked me, so I- Maybe I made him uncomfortable. I shared a bed with him Cora, maybe I-” Derek cut himself off, cursing himself. He hadn’t meant to say that last part. 

“Derek, nothing you do will make Stiles uncomfortable,” Cora said softly. Derek doubted that. “You love him, right?” 

“...yeah.” Derek confessed softly. 

“You should talk to him.” 

“I can’t.” Derek whispered. 

“Why not?” 

“I don’t…” Derek growled, this didn’t even make sense in his head, how did he put it into words. 

Cora sighed, “alright, let me ask you something. Has Stiles ever said anything, or done anything, to make you think he doesn’t like you back?” 

Derek shrugged, “no, but-” 

“Literally everyone in the pack has seen the way he looks at you, Derek. The kid loves you.” 

Derek blinked, “really?” 

“ _ Yes _ . But you’ll never know for sure, unless you  _ talk _ to him.”

“I need to talk to Stiles.” 

“Yeah,” Cora agreed, amusement sparkling in her eyes, “go talk to him.” 

\-- 

Derek burst through the Stilinski's front door, causing Stiles to flail off the couch. Derek winced, hurrying over to help the man off the floor. 

“Jeez, dude, have you heard of knocking?” Stiles complained, rubbing his arm. 

“Sorry, but I need to talk to you.” 

Stiles looked at him and sighed, “I guess you heard I was quitting?” 

Derek paused, right. “Yes. But that’s not why I-” 

But Stiles was already talking, not listening to Derek at all. “I just realized I couldn’t follow in my dad’s footsteps, you know? I need to make my own path. I’ve been following my dad for so long, I didn’t even stop to consider if it was what I really wanted before I was already doing it.” 

“Your dad?” Derek repeated, before he let go on Stiles arms to rub his hands over his face. “Your dad, right. Of course you were following your dad. You weren’t following me.” 

When he looked back up, Stiles was staring at him in confusion, “you thought I became a cop for you? Dude, I’ve been talking about becoming a cop and following in my dad’s footsteps for years! Before I even met you. You being around was a perk, sure, but it had nothing to do with you.” 

“Good. That’s.. That’s good. Sorry, I.. I was worried I had ruined your life or something.” 

“Ruined my life?” Stiles snorted, “I’m going back to school to learn how to be your lab guy so you don’t have to keep sending all your evidence to LA, or worse, not collect it at all! It’s stretching out the plan a bit, but I’m still going to be around and helping people. In a way where I can do it my own way and actually feel like I’m making a meaningful difference. Life not ruined, don’t worry.”

Derek smiled at him, feeling foolish for ever thinking Stiles made life decisions based on him. 

“Is that what this was about? Did you think I quit because of you? Because you weren’t the reason. I quit because I didn’t feel the excitement my dad always talks about while working on a case. I didn’t feel I was helping people the way I knew how.” 

“That..makes sense. But uh, that’s not why I came over here.” Derek looked away, feeling sheepish. 

“Then why did you come bursting into here?” Stiles asked. 

Derek hesitated, worried that he would screw this up again like he seemed to keep doing... But Stiles was starting to look hopeful now. He had to try. 

“I was thinking, about um, when we were in the Fae city. And we said- we said we were going to talk, after the case was over, but we never did.” 

Stiles blushed, “right, sorry. I had a lot of other life decisions going on.” 

Derek shook his head, “It’s fine, I just… I wanted you to know that I… I really liked sharing the bed with you. And I liked it when we had to hold hands. And I want to see if we can hold hands, and lie in bed together, without it being for some fake relationship-” 

Derek was cut off by Stiles lips on his. He startled for a second, but quickly melted into it. Stiles lips were pliant and soft underneath his. Derek wrapped his hands around Stiles back, feeling the warm muscles underneath his shirt move under his palms as Stiles ran his own hands through Derek’s hair. 

He could get used to this. 

Stiles pulled back first, resting his forehead against Derek’s. 

“You really mean it? You want to try this?” 

“Yes,” Derek promised. “I’ve wanted to do this for years.” 

“Years?” Stiles laughed. “You’re telling me we could have been doing this for years?” 

Derek growled, “doesn’t matter, we’re doing it now.” Derek pulled Stiles forward again, and Stiles went willingly. 

The kiss was as good as Derek had always imagined it being. 

\-- 

**Two Years Later**

Stiles lay in bed, feeling warm and comfortable curled up with Derek. They had woken up a while ago, but both enjoyed a lazy morning cuddle before work. 

“What time do you have to be in by?” Derek asked, pressing his nose to Stiles hair. 

“Anytime before 9. I’ve got a few things to finish up and mail off, but they aren’t urgent.” Ever since Stiles had started his own lab and tech center in Beacon Hills, a lot of the smaller towns in Northern California, and even areas of Arizona and Washington, had been sending evidence to him instead of LA. They praised him for his speed and accuracy. Thus far, he has yet to make a mistake. 

Most of the reason for that was because a lot of what he did was done with magic, but they didn’t need to know that. 

Derek hummed, kissing his head. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” 

“Waffles and bacon for breakfast instead of the cold cereal we’ve been eating all week?” 

Derek laughed, pressing another kiss to his head, “you know me so well.” 

“Of course I do,” Stiles turned and pressed his own kiss to Derek’s shoulder. “I love you too much not to know you.” 

“I love you too.” 

They looked at each other for a minute, smiling at how lucky they were. Stiles sat up so they could press their lips together, the kiss sweet and soft. 

When he pulled back, he grinned down at Derek. “Now you go get dressed while I get the waffle iron on. You know how I love a man in uniform. We may even have time for a quickie after breakfast.” Stiles wiggled his eyebrows, giggling when Derek shoved at him playfully. 

He watched as Derek walked to the bathroom, because he could never not watch a naked Derek walking around. He smiled at Derek when the wolf turned back to grin at him. 

They were happy together, at home and at work. 

It was all they had ever wanted. 

\-- 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment or kudos to let me know what you think :)


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